CHARLESTON, W.Va. – A former Freedom Industries executive has been sentenced to one month in federal prison for a chemical spill that fouled the drinking water supply of 300,000 West Virginians.
Dennis Farrell also was fined $20,000 Thursday in federal court in Charleston.
Four other ex-Freedom officials have been sentenced to probation and ordered to pay fines. Ex-company President Gary Southern is scheduled to be sentenced next week.
In January 2014, the leak of coal-cleaning chemicals into the water supply spurred a tap-water ban across nine counties for up to 10 days.
The company, which filed bankruptcy eight days after the spill, was fined $900,000, although a federal judge said the fine was more symbolic than anything.
