A settlement was reached Friday with the company at the center of a January chemical leak that contaminated the water supply for 300,000 West Virginians , according to an attorney for the plaintiffs . Freedom Industries Inc. would transfer $ 2.9 million into a trust fund that will be used `` for the greater good , '' according to Anthony Majestro , one of the attorneys in the class-action lawsuit . `` Things like chemical testing and medical studies , '' said Majestro , who called the trust fund `` a mechanism to answer some of the things that are still unanswered . '' On January 9 , more than 7,000 gallons of 4-methylcyclohexane methanol ( MCHM ) -- a licorice-odored chemical used to clean coal -- leaked into the Elk River from a Freedom storage tank . The result was a do-not-use order that left about 300,000 people in and around Charleston , the state capital , unable to drink or bathe for several days . A week after the spill , Freedom Industries filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection . Majestro said the money for the proposed trust fund would come from the $ 3 million insurance settlement Freedom received for spill-related claims . Under the terms of the agreement , which still have to be approved by a judge , 24 pending lawsuits against Freedom Industries would be settled . These were the suits brought by plaintiffs who were customers of West Virginia American Water and whom either lived in , worked in or owned a business in the affected area between January 9 and January 19 , according to Majestro . The settlement does not affect the more than 60 suits that have been brought against other parties such as West Virginia American Water , Eastman Chemical Company , which manufactures MCHM , or against named individuals at Freedom Industries . Majestro -- who was among those affected by the spill -- thinks that a public trust fund is the best way to use the $ 2.9 million , but he said individuals would have the option to receive a onetime payment instead . With an estimated 300,000 eligible claims , the most any one person could get would be less than $ 10 .
7,000 gallons of a chemical used to clean coal leaked into the Elk River in January . The water supply for 300,000 in the Charleston area was contaminated for days . Several lawsuits were filed against Freedom Industries . A judge still has to approve the settlement .