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EPA Spending $3.1M to Clean Shuttered Fairmont, WV Wastewater Plant

The Fairmont Brine Processing plant, located at 168 AFR Drive in Fairmont (Marion County), West Virginia, was constructed between 2009 and 2010 by AOP Clearwater LLC. The plant was acquired by Fairmont Brine Processing (FBP) in 2012. FBP began pre-treatment operations at the site in 2013 and fully operated the plant beginning fall of 2014. In May 2017, MDN reported that FBP was not paying some of its vendors (see Exclusive: What’s Going on with Fairmont Brine?). At the time, the facility’s lawyers told MDN that tardy payments were being addressed and everything was going full speed ahead. Less than a year later, FBP ceased operations at the site (on or about March 1, 2018). Read More “EPA Spending $3.1M to Clean Shuttered Fairmont, WV Wastewater Plant”

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Unrelated Explosions at OH Utica Well Pad, WV Brine Plant

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We have two explosions and resulting fires to tell you about–neither related to the other, except they happened two days apart and maybe one hour’s drive apart (as the crow flies). The first was an explosion and fire at the Fairmont Brine Processing facility in Fairmont (Marion County), WV, on May 30. The second was an explosion and fire at a Utica Shale well pad owned by Utica Resources near Lore City (Guernsey County), OH, on June 1. Both appear to be accidents. The only injury reported was a minor injury at the Utica well pad site (a worker on-site refused treatment). The main concern was that the brine treatment plant may have stored or handled radioactive material. The WV Dept. of Environmental Protection (DEP) tested and found no radioactive contamination had spread from the fire.
Read More “Unrelated Explosions at OH Utica Well Pad, WV Brine Plant”

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Exclusive: What’s Going on with Fairmont Brine?

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… Read More “Exclusive: What’s Going on with Fairmont Brine?”

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WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes

earthquake.jpgFor a number of years we’ve had our eye on Fairmont Brine Processing, headquartered in Fairmont, WV. 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). Earlier this year 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). Imagine our surprise at seeing the company’s name in a major Bloomberg article about Oklahoma earthquakes! Brian Kalt, CEO of Fairmont Brine, is floating an idea that will settle the man-induced earthquakes in Oklahoma, which come from injecting shale wastewater deep underground: Don’t inject it anymore. Instead, using Fairmont’s recycling technology to separate out the salty minerals and then release purified water into streams and rivers. That Bloomberg article actually made the Drudge Report for a while yesterday! Kudos to Fairmont and Brian Kalt…
Read More “WV Wastewater Co Grabs Nat’l Headlines re OK Earthquakes”

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Fairmont Brine Gets $90M to Build New Wastewater Recycling Plant

Fairmont BrineFairmont Brine operates a small wastewater processing plant in Marion County, WV. Last year Antero Resources pulled the rug out from under Fairmont by jilting Fairmont and contracting with a French company to build a new $275 million wastewater treatment plant in WV (see Did Antero Pull the Rug Out from Under Fairmont Brine Processing?). But you can’t keep a good man, or a good company, down. Fairmont has taken it all in stride. In fact, the company is one of the few in the catbird seat during this current downturn in the oil and gas market. As we’ve described before, because drillers are drilling less, they are not recycling and reusing produced water (water that comes out of the hole from the depths for years after the well is drilled). What do drillers do with produced water they don’t want to use for fracking and drilling more wells? They either have to haul it to an injection well, or haul it to a facility like Fairmont’s for recycling. Fairmont has just secured a $90 million line of credit to build a new wastewater processing plant in southwest PA. Demand is strong…
Read More “Fairmont Brine Gets $90M to Build New Wastewater Recycling Plant”