Four children who lived near the heart of EQT’s fracking operation in northern West Virginia are suing the Pittsburgh-based natural gas giant in federal court. EQT, the lawsuit alleges, “knowingly” exposed the children and their families to “hazardous, carcinogenic and radioactive pollutants, sickening them and forcing them to leave their childhood homes.”
The suit, filed Aug. 6, seeks funds to cover medical monitoring for the four children described in the complaint as having “a significantly increased risk” of developing serious disease and who “constantly experience the lingering mental and physical affects” of having lived near EQT’s operations. The filing also accuses the firm of causing emotional distress and negligence, among other claims, and seeks punitive damages.
EQT did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The complaint goes on to allege that EQT “knew that the Operations were sickening Plaintiffs and that they were children yet ignored this fact and intentionally and recklessly continued the Operations while making public comments to discredit and undermine Plaintiffs and Plaintiffs’ guardians.”
Garrett Hollabaugh, along with the three other minor plaintiffs, were longtime residents of a rural hamlet in Knob Fork, where EQT operates a compressor station, frackwater storage tanks and drilled a nine-bore well pad in 2021. Three families, including the plaintiffs and seven adults, moved out of the valley beginning in 2022 after developing a host of ailments, altering their quality of life and, in some cases, their ability to work and study.
The complaint cites numerous health conditions experienced by the children while living in Knob Fork, including anemia, gastrointestinal issues, cognitive issues, headaches, chest pain, shortness of breath, rashes, ear ringing, dizziness, nausea, depression, anxiety, emotional distress, scoliosis, development of allergies and lethargy, alleging these are the result of EQT’s “grossly negligent and reckless operations.”
“I don’t know what to expect from it exactly, like I’m 17 and I don’t understand lawsuits,” Garrett said in a recent interview before the filing. “Having the money to be able to support the medical bills would be the nicest thing.”
What’s coming out of the Sizemore Pad?
Public Source reported in March 2024 on years of complaints, beginning in August 2021, that were largely unaddressed by state and federal regulators responsible for overseeing EQT’s operations in Knob Fork. The reporting detailed the invisible hydrocarbon emissions at EQT’s Sizemore Well Pad at the bottom of the hollow where four families, including the plaintiffs, lived. The reporting identified a slew of hazardous emissions tracked by independent scientists and residents who said EQT’s operations caused debilitating health effects that led them to abandon their longtime homes.
“They absolutely cannot deny that they are polluting our valley,” said Abby Tennant, mother of one of the plaintiffs during a recent interview, pointing to a 2023 EPA inspection report. The EQT compressor station at the top of the hill “releases emissions 24/7,” she added.
“All of it is toxic and it comes right over top of us… There’s no filter, there’s no nothing, it is straight emissions into the air blowing right at us.”
Internal West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection records show that after a number of complaints about the Knob Fork operation, the agency asked EQT to investigate and the company did not acknowledge problems at the Sizemore Pad until a 2023 EPA inspection found “unexpected hydrocarbons,” prompting EQT to pledge to conduct repairs.
According to WVDEP records, EQT’s emissions in Knob Fork contain benzene and toluene, ethylbenzene, xylene (collectively BTEX) as well as hexane and formaldehyde — all classified as volatile organic compounds [VOCs]. When inhaled, VOCs are known to cause dizziness, headaches, tremors, anxiety, confusion, nerve damage, muscle fatigue and — at high levels — death. Some are known to cause cancer.
The lawsuit notes that all four children were tested and showed exposure to BTEX, styrene, phthalates and MTBE, all of which are associated with fracking operations.
“These things are inherently dangerous,” said Lisa Johnson, a Pittsburgh attorney representing the families.
She said she believes a judge is likely to order mediation or arbitration in response to the complaint.
Years of illness and displacement
The four children suing EQT allege a range of symptoms and conditions were caused or exacerbated by their time living next to the company’s Sizemore Pad, compressor station and open-top frackwater tanks in Knob Fork.
In late July, a week before the lawsuit was filed, a Public Source reporter visited the Tennant and Hollabaugh families at the homes where they’ve since relocated.
Since leaving the hollow, Garrett said the nausea, dizziness and lethargy he experienced there have subsided, but in other ways, his health has worsened. Last year, Garrett was diagnosed with connective tissue disorder, and his doctors have ruled out genetics, his family said.
According to the lawsuit, silica, an emission reported at EQT’s Knob Fork facilities, has been linked to connective tissue disorders. Garrett has also been diagnosed with joint issues, scoliosis, nodules on his thyroid, anxiety, depression and anemia. Now, he’s at risk of losing his eyesight and ability to walk, according to the filing, casting doubt on a planned career as a welder.
Garrett has been hospitalized four times in the last year for a collapsed lung. “It feels tight, like a stabbing pain when I try to breathe,” Garrett said of those episodes.
“The dangerous part of it is, whenever it leaks so much, it starts putting pressure on your heart. The air is leaking out of your lung into … your chest cavity, and then it puts pressure against your heart, and it can kill you,” Garrett said.
His doctors told him that four recurrences is “way too many times,” he recalled.
Piper Tennant, who will turn 16 in September, is frequently dizzy, nauseous and short of breath. Phantom “bee stings” continue to affect her.
“We passed by the compressor station last night and I got nauseous and I almost threw up in the car,” Piper said on July 30, seated at home in Paden City.
“Life for her, as well as Garrett, it stops,” Abby Tennant said. “You have to go and have surgeries and you have to recover from that and everything, it stops. Your plans, your future, all of it just goes out the window.”
Piper’s doctor has cleared her to return to cheerleading practice “as long as there is no jumping, no tumbling, or running.” Piper was preparing for tryouts in early August.
“Their bodies have been changed,” said Scott Tennant, Piper’s father.
Jozlyn and Brooklyn Kennedy’s health has improved since moving from their log home in the hollow, said their father, Matt Kennedy, but the girls still sometimes get headaches and nausea, and acute chemical sensitivity followed them to their house in New Martinsville.
It’s a “big relief, to have someone finally go to the plate and bat for us,” he said.
“I hope we get some kind of resolution … It’s pennies on the dollar for them. They’d make it back in an hour or two.”
The biggest concern is for his daughters’ future. “That they would develop something down the road like cancer or some kind of neurological condition… that’s the scary part.”
Children named, adults also suffering
The four children are the focus of the lawsuit because the statute of limitations has expired for the seven adult family members who also experienced a slew of health conditions that mostly began in the hollow.
“I’ve got a chronic cough now,” Scott Tennant said. “I see a specialist at least once a week. I cough like I smoke, which I don’t.” He also reported nervous system conditions like neuropathy and, like Piper, phantom “bee stings” he experiences when he returns to the hollow to maintain his vacant property. In late July, he filed for early retirement due to hardship from his job as a coal miner, and he said he’s only been able to work seven weeks this year between medical appointments for his wife, Abby, and surgeries for their teen daughter.
Abby Tennant said she still experiences headaches, nausea and lethargy when she drives through industrial areas: “Instantly I am out of breath.” She said the emissions in the hollow worsened an autoimmune disorder called Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease, and now she uses a wheelchair.
“Financially, it’s become more difficult,” her husband said.
EQT buoyed by federal policy
As President Donald Trump regained the White House pledging to “drill, baby, drill,” EQT was poised to benefit from a political moment defined by environmental deregulation and a doubling down on fossil fuel.
Last month, the Pittsburgh firm bought fellow fracker Olympus Energy for $1.8 billion, regaining its position as the nation’s largest natural gas producer.
Fueled by a regional push to embrace and fuel AI, EQT has signed agreements to provide gas to new power plants including one in Homer City slated to become the nation’s largest gas-fired power plant, and the Shippingport power station in Beaver County, which also supplies an AI data center.
As of early August, the company is drilling more wells in Knob Fork, West Virginia, tucked at the bottom of the rural hollow where the Tennant, Hollabaugh and Kennedy families used to live.
The company and its CEO, Toby Rice, have said their operations are “a case study for how hydrocarbon production can be done responsibly.” Rice says their gas is “the largest green initiative on the planet.” (Scientists disagree.)
Quinn Glabicki is the environment and climate reporter at Pittsburgh’s Public Source. He can be reached at quinn@publicsource.org and on Instagram @quinnglabicki.
This story was fact-checked by Jamie Wiggan.
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