There was a major contamination event in West Virginia yesterday, causing the governor to issue a state of emergency. A large amount of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol, a coal preparation foaming agent, leaked in the Elk River just outside of Charleston. The size of the spill hasn’t been reported yet. About 300,000 people have been warned not to use tap water for drinking, cooking, or bathing, and a number of businesses and schools have closed as a result.

4-methylcyclohexane methanol is a new one to me. Here’s what it looks like:

It’s an alcohol, and according to Wikipedia, it is a colorless oil with a faint “mint-like” odor, although the news reports say it smells like licorice. Also according to news reports, it is not considered toxic, but “can be harmful if swallowed”, which sort of sounds toxic to me.

One of the most disturbing things to me is that the company responsible for the spill, Freedom Industries, never contacted the government authorities. This suggests they were either trying to cover it up of didn’t know it had leaked. Not sure which is worse. This chemical, which probably nobody but an chemist or industry insider has ever heard of, is a reminder to me of how many thousands of organic chemicals there are that are being used in thousands of industrial and extraction processes that most of don’t have a clue about.