Fairmont Brine Processing Plant Owners Neglecting Public Health Hazards
Radioactive wastes have accumulated and contaminated the abandoned facility
From an Article by Esteban Fernandez, Times West Virginian, October 16, 2023
FAIRMONT — Residents descended on last week’s Marion County Commission meeting to voice their concerns about the unsecured toxic site at the Fairmont Brine Processing Plant. The site has unsafe levels of radiation from fracking wastewater in certain spots. Toxic elements are also exposed to the environment in other places.
Beer bottles, condoms and graffiti have been found onsite, indicating that it is used as a hangout location for teens. Ken Hilsbos, a family care doctor with a practice in Fairmont, addressed these and other concerns related to the plant. He urged the Commission to take a more proactive stance and put signage up at the entrance to the plant warning the public to stay away, as well as finding some way to physically bar entry to the site.
“I think the point here now is there needs to be a warning,” Hilsbos said. “I think there’s a lot of innocent people who don’t know what they’re into up there and I want them to stay off the site.” The presence of Radium 226 and polonium specifically concerns Hilsbos. He said that an isotope like Radium 226 will linger in perpetuity within a human body, releasing radiation. Cancer and other radiation related illnesses can result.
Hilsbos said any sign that gets put up in front of the plant needs to be impactful and easy to understand. The current signage around the plant relies on jargon that isn’t easily understood by laypeople. He also advocated for using an existing gate at the entrance to the plant’s access road to prevent vehicles from pulling up further into the plant.
Currently, the county commission is hamstrung by legal questions surrounding property rights and the Environmental Protection Agency. However, County Commissioner Linda Longstreth advocated for putting up signage or even closing the existing gate. “I’m just making assumptions here, guesses to whether we can actually close that gate,” she said. “Even though it’s not our property, just to put a sign up to say, ‘This is contaminated property, stay off,’ until they do something. Now, that’s coming off the top of my head but it sounds like we can protect something until they actually do something.”
County Administrator Kris Cinalli indicated that the EPA still hasn’t said when they will erect a fence around the plant. He said as far as he knew, the EPA had started the bidding process for the fence but hasn’t selected a contractor.
Marion County Sheriff James Riffle also said at the meeting that neither the EPA nor West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection had reached out to him about increasing patrols around the plant. Fairmont Police Chief Steve Shines later said the EPA had not reached out to him either and he wasn’t aware of any request for an increased police presence at the plant.
“EPA is most likely the head authority in dealing with a situation like this,” Warren Hilsbos said to the commission. He has a background in legal studies. “But of course they have a massive jurisdiction, they’re responsible for the entire nation, all its waterways, and lands. So in some ways this is a very small part of their large portfolio, whereas this is a very large potential part of the county’s concerns, especially if this were to become a bigger, more dire situation.” After Hilsbos suggested that one course of action was to begin working with the state’s congressional delegation to resolve the matter, Commission President Ernie VanGilder sprung into action to deal with the delegation himself.
Longstreth later said in an email that the EPA has approval to enter the site today, and will meet with contractors to bid on the fence. The EPA is also putting up no trespassing signs this week as well as a temporary road barrier. She said the information came from Chris McIntire, director of Marion County Homeland Security and Emergency Management. The commission hopes this all goes forward as quickly as possible, she added. The commission’s next meeting is Oct. 25.