DeSmog
Feb 18, 2021 @ 13:09
On the evening of February 1, a fire erupted at a West Virginia facility that processes radioactive oilfield waste generated from nearby fracking operations, injuring two workers. A video of the fire captured by local news station WTRF shows a raging nighttime inferno billowing out of the collapsed building.
Initial news reports described the facility located in Dallas Pike, 50 miles southwest of Pittsburgh as a truck stop cleaning station. However, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (WVDEP) confirmed to DeSmog that the facility, which the agency says is owned and operated by Ohio-based company Petta Enterprises, does a lot more than clean trucks: It processes oil and gas waste. And the agency confirmed that it was the volatile nature of this waste transported inside trucks arriving at the site that helped cause the blaze.
DeSmog
Background
FTI Consulting (NYSE: FCN) describes itself as “an independent global business advisory firm dedicated to helping organizations manage change, mitigate risk and resolve disputes: financial, legal, operational, political & regulatory, reputational and transactional.” [1]
FTI offers services for a wide range of industries. For example, its energy industry services offer “advisory services that address the strategic, financial, reputational, regulatory and legal needs of energy and utility clients involved in the production of crude oil, natural gas, refined products, chemicals, coal, electric power, emerging technologies and renewable energy” as well as “strategic communications services across all disciplines.” [2]
FTI maintains an “Environmental Solutions Group” which focuses on “the resolution of complex contamination, toxic tort, products liability and insurance disputes.” [3]
as a result of the February 1 fire, Vargo said
: “Not necessarily, because there was no release to the atmosphere, because it was an explosion.” He added, “we did check the area and there was no sign of radioactivity or any other contaminants.”
West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (DHHR) spokesperson Allison Adler said, “Communication was received from the WVDEP that Bob Applegate of the Petta facility did a walk around of the facility with a radiation survey meter and noted that the area around the building did not receive any readings higher then background levels of radiation.” She said DHHR staff have not been onsite at the facility since the incident.