$151 Million Chemical Spill Settlement Under Review

The chemical spill left people without tap water for up to 9 days.

In this Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, file photo, workers inspect an area outside a retaining wall around storage tanks where a chemical leaked into the Elk River at Freedom Industries storage facility in Charleston, W.Va. A federal judge is expected to hear details, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, of a potential tentative settlement between a water company and plaintiffs who sued over the company's handling of a 2014 chemical leak in southern West Virginia.
In this Monday, Jan. 13, 2014, file photo, workers inspect an area outside a retaining wall around storage tanks where a chemical leaked into the Elk River at Freedom Industries storage facility in Charleston, W.Va. A federal judge is expected to hear details, Monday, Oct. 31, 2016, of a potential tentative settlement between a water company and plaintiffs who sued over the company's handling of a 2014 chemical leak in southern West Virginia.
AP Photo/Steve Helber, File

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) — A revised class-action settlement plan is back before a federal judge deciding how to pay victims of a chemical spill that left people without tap water for up to 9 days.

The drinking water of about 300,000 people in the greater Charleston area was contaminated in January 2014 when a chemical used to clean coal spilled from a storage tank at the now-defunct Freedom Industries, polluting the Elk River upstream from the system's water intake.

Judge John Copenhaver raised concerns about previous terms of the negotiated $151 million settlement with West Virginia American Water Co. and Eastman Chemical. This amended plan replaces tiered and fixed amounts with percentages and cost-based factors for businesses and medical claims.

It would raise payment for a simple household claim from $525 to $550.

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