A rolling stone gathers no moss or frack sand ...

Presentation by Justin Nobel, Science Journalist (Rolling Stone Magazine), West Union, WV, January 22, 2020

On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, Justin Nobel, Science Journalist writing for the Rolling Stone will hold an informational meeting regarding the radioactive risks associated with the oil and gas industry at the Doddridge County Senior Center in West Union, WV.

Justin has spent the past 20 months reporting on the issue of the radioactivity brought to the surface in oil and gas production, and the many different pathways of contamination posed to the industry’s workers, the public, communities, and the environment. Justin’s story is due out in the February issue of Rolling Stone magazine, and he is also writing a book on the topic to be published with Simon & Schuster and tentatively titled: Petroleum-238: Big Oil’s Dangerous Secret and the Grassroots Fight to Stop It.

“I have uncovered never-before-released early reports from the oil and gas industry that highlight the radioactivity problem and its risks to workers and the public, and also been led to a set of recent court cases linking oil and gas worker deaths from cancer to radioactivity on the job. What is scary is that although these workers often worked their jobs for many years, these aren’t necessarily specialized jobs, these documents reveal that everyday oil and gas work such as that of a derrickman, roughneck, or truck driver involve considerable exposure to radioactive materials and can lead to cancer.”

Justin has also spent months gaining access to present-day workers in the Marcellus and Utica, some of them have been stealthily capturing samples of the waste they haul, and have taken great risks to share their information with him. Justin’s reporting, involving hundreds of interviews with scientists, environmentalists, state regulators and industry workers, has also revealed shocking public health risks that our federal and state regulators appear to have ignored.

Radioactivity is present in a number of different types of oil and gas waste, from brine, to sludges and scales generated at the wellhead and in downstream industry equipment such as pipelines, compressor stations, natural gas processing plants, and ethane cracker plants. The disposal of this waste presents dangers at every step from being trucked along Americas highways in unmarked vehicles; handled by workers who are misinformed and left unprotected by its dangers; leaked into waterways; stored in municipal dumps that are not equipped to contain the toxicity; and even used in household commercial products that have been sold at hardware stores and still are spread on local roads.

This is important information, and it is information all should hear — We ask that concerned residents, industry workers and their families, policy makers and anyone else in the community please feel free to attend.

Please join us for this important presentation on Wednesday, January 22, 2020 from 6:00 to 7:30 PM, at the Doddridge County Senior Center, 403 West Main Street, West Union, West Virginia.

Event Organizer: Mirijana Beram, miri_beram@yahoo.com
See also: Doddridge County Watershed Association

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See also: The Hidden Risk in the Fracking Boom – Rolling Stone, 2/2/19 — Are pipeline safety regulations keeping pace with the flood of natural gas?

See also: Fracking Increases Risk of Asthma, Birth Defects and Cancer – Rolling Stone, 3/13/18 — The most authoritative study of its kind reveals how fracking is contaminating the air and water – and imperiling the health of millions of Americans