Goff receives 3 years probation, 300 hours community service for brine dumping

Hardrock Excavating employee was accused of emptying liquid waste into storm drain

Staff report

CLEVELAND

Mark A. Goff, the fourth defendant accused of violating the federal Clean Water Act by dumping oilfield waste into a Mahoning River tributary, was sentenced to three years of probation and 300 hours of community service.

The sentence by U.S. District Judge Donald C. Nugent is the same sentence another employee of Hardrock Excavating LLC received.

Goff, 46, of Newton Falls pleaded guilty to the violation in April and waived his right to be indicted by a grand jury.

Goff was accused of emptying liquid waste from storage tanks into a stormwater drain on Salt Springs Road in Youngstown on nine nights between Oct. 1 and Nov. 12, 2012, at the direction of his boss, Ben Lupo.

Lupo, 63, of Springfield, the company and another employee, Michael P. Guesman, 35, of Cortland were all charged with the offense.

Guesman pleaded guilty to dumping the waste at Lupo’s direction for 24 nights beginning Dec. 12, 2012. He received the same sentence as Goff from the same judge in March.

Lupo will be sentenced at 10 a.m. Aug. 5.

Lupo’s sentencing was postponed in May at the request of Lupo’s lawyer, Joseph W. Gardner of Canfield because U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kay Woods was not expected to finalize the sale of Lupo’s company, D&L Energy Inc. until this month and Lupo’s financial condition would not be known until then.

The sale was finalized in June, according to court records. Resource Land Holdings LLC purchased the company for $20.7 million.

A Jan. 31, 2013, discharge of brine, drilling mud and drill cuttings triggered a massive multi-agency 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, according to The Vindicator files.