Tomblin said he will work with his environmental agency chief on tightening regulation of chemical storage facilities in the current legislative session. "We are at a point where we can see a light at the end of the tunnel," Gov. But Mr. Huffman disputed that accusation, noting that West Virginia’s economy is more heavily dependent than other states on the coal and chemical industries. It’s not in context.” Although he added, “That’s no excuse for any incident where someone gets hurt.” 
 
 Efforts to clean up the spill showed signs of improvement on Sunday. “The numbers look good, and like last night, they are very encouraging,” Governor Tomblin said in a news conference on Sunday. “I believe we’re at a point where we can say we’re seeing light at the end of the tunnel.” 
 
 Officials said tests conducted at a water treatment plant downstream from the site of the leak showed little to no traces of contamination on Sunday morning, allowing testing to move to the next phase. "I can tell you we’re not several days from starting to lift, but I’m not saying today," said Jeff McIntyre, president of West Virginia American Water, which runs the water treatment plant. Schools will also be closed or partially closed in six counties Monday, although officials expect most students to be back in classrooms by Tuesday. Ten people were admitted to three hospitals with symptoms that were not life threatening, she said. Federal authorities, including the U.S. Chemical Safety Board, have opened an investigation into Thursday’s spill. "It's used in processing coal, as I understand it, but obviously it was not a coal company, it was a chemical company that left the breach and the tanks that's holding this particular chemical," he said. It just so happens that the chemical has some applications to the coal industry, just that fact alone shouldn't cause people to point fingers at the coal industry," said Jason Bostic, vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association. "This is a chemical spill accident.
– The chemical spill that has left more than 300,000 people in West Virginia without water appears to be the product of lax regulation in a state where coal and chemical firms have long operated with little oversight, the New York Times finds. A document released over the weekend reveals state authorities were aware that the company responsible was storing up to a million pounds of the coal-cleaning chemical Crude MCHM at a riverside facility near a water treatment plant, but it's not clear whether the treatment plant knew about the risk, reports the Wall Street Journal. "We can’t just point a single finger at this company," says the director of the West Virginia Rivers Coalition, noting that the site of the spill hadn't been inspected since 1991. "We need to look at our entire system and give some serious thought to making some serious reform and valuing our natural resources over industry interests." A tap water ban is still in place in the Charleston region, where many schools and businesses remain closed, but authorities say they can "see the light at the end of the tunnel" and they expect the ban to be lifted within days, starting in downtown Charleston and other priority zones, NBC reports.