Another oil field waste dumping defendant to plead in Hardrock case

Staff report

YOUNGSTOWN

A fourth defendant charged with violating the Clean Water Act in the dumping of oil-field waste into a Mahoning River tributary is scheduled for arraignment and a plea hearing in federal court in Cleveland.

Mark A. Goff, 46, of Newton Falls, an employee of Hardrock Excavating LLC, will appear at 10 a.m. April 14 before U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent.

Unlike the other three defendants, Hardrock; its owner, Ben Lupo, 63, of Springfield Township; and another of Lupo’s employees, Michael P. Guesman, 35, of Cortland, Goff was charged in an information, which means he waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury.

Lupo has pleaded guilty and awaits sentencing at 10 a.m. June 16.

Guesman pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years’ probation and 300 hours of community service.

The case against Hardrock is pending.

The information says Goff emptied liquid waste from storage tanks on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown into a stormwater drain at Lupo’s direction on nine nights between Oct. 1 and Nov, 12, 2012.

Guesman said he dumped the waste from the tanks at Lupo’s direction on 24 nights beginning Dec. 12, 2012.

A Jan. 31, 2013, discharge of brine, drilling mud and drill cuttings triggered a massive multiagency investigation of the case and a $3 million cleanup.

The penalty range for violating the Clean Water Act is probation to three years in prison and a fine up to $250,000.

Brad J. Beeson, the assistant U.S. attorney prosecuting the case, has said he wants Lupo sentenced to three years in prison.