CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A former environmental consultant at Freedom Industries is due in court for sentencing in a 2014 chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians.
Robert Reynolds is the first of six ex-Freedom officials to be sentenced this month on pollution charges. He is set to appear Monday afternoon in federal court in Charleston.
Former plant manager Michael Burdette is set to be sentenced Wednesday. Each man faces up to a year in prison and a minimum $2,500 fine.
The spill of thousands of gallons of the coal-cleaning agent MCHM into the Elk River in January 2014 prompted officials to tell residents in nine counties not to use their tap water for up to 10 days.
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This version corrects that Burdette's sentencing is Wednesday, not Monday.