SkyTruth Id: 63dd8520-2b33-16d4-eecf-be8273706928sub48fde31f-eeb3-5d57-07f6-a3cd504a022a
Source: Click here 1368668
Date/Time: 2023 May 30 / 4:15 pm
Lat/Lng: 39.50858/-80.12559
Tags: ['NRC', 'other', 'release']

Report Details ~ NRC Report ID: 1368668
Incident Time: 2023-05-30 16:15:00
Nearest City: Fairmont, WV
Location: 168 AFR DRIVE
Location2: FAIRMONT BRINE
Incident Type: FIXED
Material: RADIOACTIVE MATERIAL
Medium Affected: UNKNOWN

SkyTruth Analysis
Lat/Long: 39.508579, -80.125595 (Approximated from street_address)

Report Description ~ CALLER IS REPORTING THE POTENTIAL RELEASE OF AN UNKNOWN AMOUNT OF VARIOUS MATERIALS AND MAYBE SOME RADIOACTIVE MATERIALS. THE CALLER STATED THAT THERE IS A FIRE AT THE ADDRESS LOCATION AND IT HAS BEEN EXTINGUISHED.

Source: https://alerts.skytruth.org/report/63dd8520-2b33-16d4-eecf-be8273706928/

>>> From an Article by Bill Robinson, Richmond Register, April 14, 2017

A Pittsburgh, Pa., company has reached a settlement with the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services in connection with the disposal of radioactive waste at the Blue Ridge Landfill in Estill County.

While denying liability, Fairmont Brine has agreed to pay a $168,000 civil penalty over a 30-month period, the CHFS announced Friday. The business had appealed a fine of more than $1 million the state imposed Nov. 10.

Fairmont Brine was one of several businesses penalized after more than 1,000 tons of low-level radioactive waste from West Virginia fracking wells were dumped illegally at the landfill near Irvine from July 2015 until January 2016.

The waste is called TENORM, technologically enhanced, naturally occuring radioactive material.

“All settlement proceeds will be directed to the Estill County Health Department,” CHFS Secretary Vickie Yates Brown Glisson said. “The funds will be used for radiation-related public health issues in Estill County, particularly radon education and detection.”

Fairmont Brine, which operates a wastewater treatment facility in West Virginia, contracted with Advanced TENORM Services of West Liberty, Ky., for the pickup, transportation, treatment and disposal of its waste. Some of the waste contained TENORM and ended up at the Blue Ridge Landfill, according to CHFS.

Fairmont Brine maintained it did not intentionally violate the law and cooperated with Kentucky authorities, CHFS noted. When it contracted with Advanced TENORM for waste disposal, Fairmont relied on the West Liberty firm’s claims it could safely and legally deposit TENORM waste in Kentucky.

Although it did not have jurisdiction over Kentucky disposal, a West Virginia regulatory authority approved Fairmont Brine’s arrangement with Advanced TENORM, according to CHFS.

Before CHFS issued civil penalties, Fairmont Brine contacted CHFS to inquire about Advanced TENORM disposal of of the waste. Fairmont Brine also helped CHFS establish the timeline of events leading up to the illegal disposal, according to a CHFS news release.

Monitoring and testing of areas at the Blue Ridge Landfill have shown no evidence that the TENORM disposal caused radiation or radioactive contamination above federal and state safety limits, the CHFS release added.

In addition, preliminary dose assessments on landfill workers indicate that the workers are not at risk for any negative health outcomes.

Advanced TENORM Services and its owner Cory Hoskins were each fined $2.65 million in the case. Both have filed for bankruptcy, but CHFS has asked a federal court not to allow Hoskins to escape the fine via bankruptcy.

Others penalized in the case include: Mountain States Environmental of Lancaster, Ohio, ($615,000); L.R. Daniels Transportation Inc. of Ashland ($612,000); Pressure Technology of Norwich, Ohio ($338,000); Nuverra Environmental Solution of Scottsdale, Ariz., ($143,000); E&R Energy, LLC of Norwich, Ohio, ($140,000); and Cambrian Wells Services of Norwich, Ohio ($30,000).

https://www.richmondregister.com/news/one-business-settles-in-illegal-radioactive-waste-dumping/article_6a2d2394-2174-11e7-8d9e-b78f08b1f8ff.html

RE: Energy Services, Fairmont Brine Processing, Marion County, West Virginia, May 9, 2017

Last week MDN was contacted by a vendor working in the oil and gas business who is owed money by Fairmont Brine. The vendor’s question to MDN: What have you heard about Fairmont? Are they heading for bankruptcy?

We’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV, for a number of years. We originally started writing about the company in 2010 when it was AOP Clearwater (see AOP Clearwater Plant in WV a Big Success in Treating Marcellus Shale Wastewater).

New owners expanded the operation in 2014 (see New Brine Processing Plant Coming to Panhandle of WV).

In early 2016, Fairmont secured a $90 million line of credit to build a new wastewater processing plant in southwest PA (see Fairmont Brine Gets $90M to Build New Wastewater Recycling Plant).

And in November, we spotted the company’s name in a major Bloomberg article about Oklahoma earthquakes and how the company can help solve the problem (see WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes).

We told our inquiring vendor we had not heard anything lately about Fairmont. The vendor said he’s not been paid for many months, and sent us copies of letters from the company stating the company is in a cash flow pinch and could not “fulfill its obligations at this time.”

So MDN contacted Fairmont’s law firm, the venerable Babst Calland, to find out what’s going on. Here’s what what we found ….. (subscription needed)

https://marcellusdrilling.com/2017/05/exclusive-whats-going-on-with-fairmont-brine/