The Jan. 9 chemical spill in Charleston, West Virginia provides an unfortunate case example of a much broader set of problems with our nation’s system of protecting the public from chemical exposures. An estimated 7,500 gallons of crude 4-methylcyclohexane methanol (MCHM), a chemical used in coal production, leaked from a chemical company storage tank sited next to the Elk River, just upstream from Charleston’s major water treatment plant, and contaminated the drinking water for 300,000 residents.