Patriot Coal is the second largest coal-mining company east of the Mississippi River. While headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri, 8 of its 10 active complexes are located in West Virginia. It is an offset to Freedom Industries, which is a main chemical producer for the coal industry. Patriot Coal claims to employ approximately 4,100 people in both Appalachia and the Illinois Basin. The company, as a whole, sold 24.9 million tons of coal in 2012, 18.5 million tons of which was sold out of its West Virginia complexes. Coal is main source of energy in West Virginia and supplies jobs in the community as well as economic stimuli. Although the coal industry does provide a lot for the state and its people, it is a corrupt industry and holds high positions in the sate and local government to ensure that policy always sways to their benefit. This corruption is one part of the policy and enforcement issue that is causing the breakdown of management and these chemical spill accidents.
Patriot Coal was responsible for a significant coal slurry spill, which dumped more than 100,000 gallons of coal slurry into an eastern Kanawha Stream on February 11, 2014 This spill left over 300,000 West Virginians and exposed the need for policy changes in the state. Sub-par management policy accompanied with lack of enforcement has led to several other spills in the state and on the Kanawha River.