Farrell pleads guilty in Freedom pollution case

CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Former Freedom Industries official Dennis Farrell faces up to two years in prison after his guilty plea Tuesday in federal court to a pair of pollution charges, prosecutors said.

Farrell was a member of Freedom’s executive team in the time leading up to the Jan. 2014 spill of the chemical MCHM into the Elk River in Charleston. The spill caused a drinking water emergency impacting approximately 300,000 residents in parts of nine counties.

Farrell makes the sixth person associated with the company to enter a guilty plea. He initially indicated he planned on going to trial.

Former Freedom President Gary Southern is scheduled to enter a guilty plea at a hearing scheduled for Wednesday. U.S. Attorney Booth Goodwin is expected to make some comments about the case following Southern’s hearing.