Retraction: 911 Was Called, and Spill Incident Reported

In connection with the story I posted yesterday about the Mesquite ammonia spill, I have been informed from an anonymous email apparently sent to me from the New Mexico Environmental Department that:

"The management of Desert Air Cooling DID call 911 and DID report the incident immediately after its occurance (sic). The Fire Chief for Mesquite states that Desert Air Cooling was very helpful when they arrived following the incident. The Las Cruces Sun will make the announcements about its mistake in the 05/21/09 issue of its newspaper."

I have no reason to doubt the accuracy of the report from the NM Environmental Department, although the misspelling of "occurence" and the anonymity of the email did raise my suspicions. I will assume it is accurate. Therefore, my highly negative reaction to the Meeks story should be considered, in the famous euphemism of Richard Nixon, inoperative. I have incorporated the email into the comment section, but I think it is only fair to give this retraction a stronger line.