MCHM Spill in WV Highlights Need for Better Hazardous Chemical Data
On January 9, 2014, a significant spill of 4-methylcyclohexanemethanol (MCHM), an industrial chemical, into the Elk River in Charleston, WV, affected 300,000 people. The incident highlighted gaps in data availability and reporting of hazardous chemicals, which could have helped mitigate the disaster.
The spill occurred when up to 7,500 gallons of MCHM leaked from a public storage facility. The lack of up-to-date data on MCHM's potential harm to humans led to uncertainty about the water's safety days after the incident. This was partly due to inadequate underlying data in federal databases like TOXNET and the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
The storage facility was not regularly inspected by relevant authorities, including the EPA, West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, and OSHA. This was because the facility's primary use was extra space storage, and MCHM was classified as not acutely toxic. However, the incident demonstrated the need for regular inspections and up-to-date data on such facilities.
Chemical storage reporting in West Virginia is largely conducted on paper, making it difficult to access and use data on the locations of plants that store MCHM. Mandating e-filing for chemical plant reports, making data freely available online, and offering bulk downloads in machine-readable formats could improve government services and help prevent future disasters.
The federal authority responsible for conducting regular inspections and reporting on storage units handling hazardous chemicals in Germany is the Federal Environment Agency (Umweltbundesamt, UBA). Such an agency could help model equipment failure rates and map active sites of hazardous material storage for environmental protection purposes.
In response to the spill, S. 1009, the Chemical Safety Improvement Act of 2013, was introduced. This aims to require systematic evaluations of grandfathered chemicals to ensure sufficient information is available in future disasters. The EPA does not require testing and reporting for 60,000 chemicals that were already on the market when the Toxic Substances Control Act of 1976 (TSCA) took effect.
The MCHM spill in Charleston, WV, underscored the need for improved data collection, reporting, and accessibility of information on hazardous chemicals. Regular inspections, digital record-keeping, and systematic evaluations of chemicals could help prevent future disasters and ensure the safety of affected populations.
