thank you and west virginia a chemical spill into the elk river caused governor earl ray tomblin to issue a state of emergency and nine counties and a water ban for three hundred thousand people over five thousand gallons of coal preparation chemical has escaped from a tank at freedom industries in the state's capital the link was discovered last night but it's possible it's been going on for longer r.t. correspondent megan lopez has more. state and federal authorities are working around the clock in charleston west virginia after a spill leads chemicals into the elk river just one mile upstream from a local water treatment facility so the spill comes from a forty eight thousand gallon chemical storage tank from freedom industries right now west virginia governor earl ray tomblin has declared a state of emergency for nine counties surrounding charleston west virginia schools and businesses have been closed and the three hundred thousand or so residents that have been affected by this spill are told not to drink the water not even to wash their hands with it only to use it to flush the toi

. >> west virginia governor earl ray tomblin. >> we can see light at the end of the tunnel. i ask all west virginians to be patient while we work to restore service to the areas. >> some have managed to keep a positive attitude. >> how you holding up sir? >> wonderful, these guys are the best around. they've taken real good care of us. the high school kids have carried my water including my truck. i can't praise them enough. >> so in a way this is bringing the community together. >> definitely, definitely. reporter: here where the leak occurred, the water is testing in the safe range. and jeff, later tonight or tomorrow the water company is going to call some of its customers to take the preliminary step of flushing their pipes. >> glor: chip reid, thank you. alex rodriguez's suspension is the entire 2014 season. anthony bosch sat down with scott pelley for a two part report airing on tonight's 60 minutes. >> once alex rodriguez was fully into your protocol what were the various banned substances that he was taking? >> testosterone. inins plin growth factor 1. human growth h

but in the wake of this water crisis, the democratic governor earl ray tomblin, a supporter of the chemicaldustry, said he would consider tougher regulation of chemical storage facilities. >> we need to look at it to make sure this kind of incident does not happen again. >> reporter: we reached out to freedom industries for a comment on today's developments but they did not respond to our request and, by the way, scott, the water is being declared safe here one area at a time which means for some people it still could take days. >> pelley: chip reid on the scene near west virginia's capital. chip, thanks very much. today one of the key figures in the corruption scandal in the city of bell, california, pleaded got filing a false federal tax return. robert rizzo could get eight years in prison. he already faces prison time after pleading no contest to misappropriation of public funds. in 2010, as city manager in bell rizzo was paid $1.5 million to run a city of 35,000 people. on wall street today, the dow industrials took a tumble, down a little more than 179 points, or about 1%, closing at 1

thousand gallon chemical storage tank for freedom industries right now west virginia governor earl ray tomblin has declared a state of emergency for nine counties surrounding charleston west virginia schools and businesses have been closed and the three hundred thousand or so residents that have been affected by this spill are told not to drink the water not even to wash their hands with it you know something else to keep in mind here is that some of the symptoms that are involved in this or that authorities are warning residents of is burnings wrote hands and arms and skin local grocery store owners have described the mad dash by local residents there as pandemonium in order to get. their hands on some clean bottles of water residents there are even resorting to buying bags of ice and sporting drinks and soda and things like that in order to have something to drink as there is a shortage right now at the moment on the road to west virginia maggie lopez r.t. and r.j. international now a look at local fisherman under threat in west africa and of course if you're joining us now from the u.k. it'

television thankfully the situation has improved since friday according to west virginia's governor earl ray tomblin and officials are gradually lifting the water drinking ban on a zone by zone basis but what damage has already been done and what does the lack of regulation when it comes to chemical spills mean for the future safety of the u.s. water supply for me now to discuss is r t correspondent megan lopez who has been at the ground at this little site thank you so much for coming on megan first briefly explain what the heck about chemical that i just said is all right well just to repeat the name it's for meth a cycle hexane methanol or m c him for short it's a phony agent that is used to clean coal right before it goes to market so it's described as somewhere between a detergent and an air freshener beyond that researchers really don't know all that much about it i really haven't find that much research on it anyway but we will even if the water's drinkable now i mean what kind of damage are we talking about that's already been done and the long term health effects from those who've already c

television thankfully the situation has improved since friday according to west virginia's governor earl ray tomblin and officials are gradually lifting the water drinking ban on a zone by zone basis but what damage has already been done and what does the lack of regulation when it comes to chemical spills mean for the future safety of the u.s. water supply for me now to discuss is our two correspondent megan lopez who has been at the ground at this little site thank you so much for coming on megan first briefly explain what the heck about chemical that i just said is all right well just to repeat the name it's for meth a cycle hexane methanol or him see him for short it's a phony agent that is used to clean coal right before it goes to market so it's described as somewhere between a detergent and an air freshener beyond that researchers really don't know all that much about it i really haven't find that much research on it anyway. even if the water's drinkable now i mean what kind of damage are we talking about that's already been done and the long term health effects from those who've already come

one of the most basic elements of life a chemical spill from a local company forced governor earl ray tomblin to make an unprecedented decision to not use any of the water with the exception of using and it took less sugar or fire protection. now local authorities are teaming up with thema the department of homeland security and the national guard to get this crisis under control. pallets of water are coming in by the truckload. fire garages normally used to house the station's trucks have turned into distribution drive through the day. outside a line of cars as far as the eye can see i don't have a bar of the first day and i got meant that the advance those who can't drive walk to the station everyone just trying to get their hands on a case of water it's not stopping every time we bring a truckie and it's pretty much gone just as quick as we can get carts are here and they're still coming within minutes of arriving i mean you've got to know oh yeah you're right for your wife that's the last one hundred were out there for. the water has completely vanished fire station two closes its garage

when asked by a reporter of the water was actually safe to drink and use democratic governor earl ray tomblin so it's your decision if you don't feel comfortable drinking or cooking with this water the news bottled water one added that i'm not going to say absolutely one hundred percent that everything is safe but i can say is if you don't feel comfortable don't use it be finished by saying that i'm not a scientist you know i have to rely on the best information that i have this yesterday the company water is safe a saying that the people of west virginia should play scientist they should decide for themselves you know you figure out if your water incentive to drink good play at all tom when might be a democrat in this instance he's taking a very libertarian approach and that comes with a lot of flaws libertarianism assumes that we're all capable of making these kind of complex kinds of decisions and assessing actual risks. does or doesn't have a dangerous chemical in particular ones we can't taste or see when regulations to keep us safe before chemical spill and other disasters happen in eur

when asked by a reporter of the water was actually safe to drink and use democratic governor earl ray tomblin so it's your decision if you don't feel comfortable drinking or cooking with this water the news bottled water tom and added that i'm not going to say absolutely one hundred percent that everything is safe what i can say is if you don't feel comfortable don't use it he finished by saying that i'm not a scientist you know at the rely on the best information that i have this yesterday the company that owns the factory freedom industries company that's admitted to causing the leak and. so there's a second chemical spilled into the elk river as well but governor thompson doesn't seem too concerned about that either and isn't in any rush to hire more scientists to ensure that the water is safe he's saying that the people of west virginia should play scientist they should decide for themselves you know you figure out if you're water and see if the drink good play at all tom and might be a democrat in this instance he's taking a very libertarian approach. and that comes with a lot of flaws l

governor earl ray tomblin announcing the do not use order is being lifted for certain towns includingbut it will take time. some will be without potable water for days. the chemical leak came from a company called tree dfreedom industries. the company's president held a news con trens of sorts during which he apologized. he tried to assure those affected that the chemical isn't dangerous and won't result in any three-eyed simpsons fish. his demeanor during the short press conference probably failed to win any new fans of freedom industries. >> it has been an extremely hard day. i'm having trouble talking at the moment. i would appreciate it if we could wrap this thing up. >> are there no systems in place to alert you of a leak at your facility other than a smell? >> at this moment in time, i think that's all we have time for. thanks for coming. >> we have more questions -- hey, hey, hey, we're not done -- >> minimum time line -- >> all right, are you with the pr firm -- >> -- we're working on that right now -- >> tonight? >> not possible. we're working on that plan. thank you. >> for

bull west virginia's governor democrat earl ray tomblin went out of his way at a press conference tome the incident on the coal industry. >> let me just make it very clear that this was not a coal company incident. this was a chemical company. it's used in processing coal, as i understand it. but obviously it is not a coal company. it was a chemical company that let the breach and the tanks that's holding this particular chemical. >> clethe point is the incident happened at a chemical company. >> happened at a chemical plant. don't blame the coal industry. senator manchin was trying to get that same message out when i spoke with him today. the citizens of west virginia understand the centrality of coal to the economy. they know there's coal extraction. they know there are risks that come with that. do you think the citizens of west virginia knew about this chemical, this risk to their drinking water? did you know about this risk? >> well, no, but let me just say that this part of our state, chris, where all this happened is basically we make chemicals for you and every american that

governor earl ray tomblin announced today that test results are now below toxic levels. >> the numbers we have today look good and we're finally at a point where the do not use order is been lifted in certain areas. we've made a lot of progress but i ask all west virginias to continue to be patient as we work to safely restore service to the affected areas. >> woodruff: it can't happen soon enough for people who scrounged for ice and bottled water over the weekend. more than 230 visited emergency rooms complaining of exposure symptoms; 14 were admitted. still, some were undaunted: a local beauty pageant went on, as planned. >> we cannot take showers so some of the girls used water bottles to wash their hair. they're using a lot of dry shampoo, baby powder, lots of hair spray and teasing. >> woodruff: the crisis began thursday when 7,500 gallons of the chemical "four-methyl-cyclo- hexane methanol" leaked from a storage tank at freedom industries. some of the substance, used in coal processing, escaped a containment area and ran into the elk river, just upstream from the region's water t

cases bamma to long term effects are still pretty much a mystery west virginia's governor earl ray tomblin as declared some areas safe for drinking but the state isn't home free just yet there's still a long ways to go for the spill is cleaned up and as of yet there is no specific timetable for when areas affected by the spill will be cleared for everyday water use meanwhile public officials have some explaining to do the plant where the leak started has not been inspected by any kind of state or federal agency in more than two decades in a state like west virginia this kind of hands off approach to regulation is sadly kind of expected the coal industry is a huge part of the local economy and holds a stranglehold over local politics in an environment like this companies like freedom industries feel like they can act without any regard for public safety or the environment what happened at freedom industries were facility is a perfect example of why we need government regulation and the corporate death penalty private for profit industries cannot be trusted to regulate themselves and so it's

. >>> we've asked the governor of west virginia earl ray tomblin and joe manchin and jay rockefeller's important to know their public officials are on their side. and of course we will continue to dig for answers. >>> in other news this morning, a bizarre conversation now taking place in america. instead of talking about whether loaded guns ought to be allowed in movie theaters, many people are talking about text rage. a 71-year-old former cop curtis reeves is now charged with murder after he pulled a gun in a movie theater and killed a 43-year-old father who was texting in the darkened theater. in a stage twist, florida prosecutors say the alleged killer has a history of retribution for others texting at the movies. a witness told them reeves came after her at the very same theater just a few weeks ago. >> indicated that he was glaring at her the entire time throughout the movie. and he also followed her to the bathroom when she had gotten up to go to the restroom and made her feel very uncomfortable. >> okay. so let's talk about this. mark o'mara is a legal analyst and defense atto