Environmental Law

Again, In My Own Backyard . . .

By Walter James

On April 16, 2009, Texas Oil and Gathering Inc. and two of its executives pleaded guilty to illegally dumping refinery wastes at an underground injection well. The investigation began because of an explosion at the well which killed three workers. John Kessel, owner of Texas Oil and Gathering Inc., and Edgar Pettijohn, operations manager also pleaded guilty to conspiracy and to violations of the Safe Drinking Water Act. The company pled guilty to conspiracy and violating the RCRA for disposing of hazardous waste at an unpermitted facility.

The explosion that triggered the investigation occurred in January 2003. While no allegations were made that the defendants caused the explosion, it did trigger a review of what material went into the well which led to the charges. According to the DOJ, between January 2000 and January 2003, Kessel and Pettijohn ordered workers to take the company's oil and water waste from distillation to an injection well and fill out disposal forms that said the waste was from an oil well leased by Kessel. The injection well could only accept production wastes from the exploration of oil and gas.

Sentencing is set for September 15, 2009. Warren Amburn, out of USEPA Region VI CID, was the investigating agent. The company faces a maximum fine of $500,000.00 on the conspiracy count and a fine of up to $500,000.00 on the RCRA count. Kessel and Pettijohn each face up to eight years in prison and a fine of up to $500,000.00.

More later.

As always, feel free to contact me via e-mail at walter.james@jamespllc.com.

WDJiii

Full post as published by Environmental Crimes Blog on April 17, 2009 (boomark / email).