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Fifth defendant to be sentenced in oilfield waste case
CLEVELAND
Lawyers for the fifth defendant in the dumping of oil-field waste into a Mahoning River tributary in Youngstown want the sentencing judge to consider his acceptance of responsibility for his crime, and the probation sentences two co-defendants received for the same crime.
David N. Jenkins, 34, of Warren, who pleaded guilty in July to violating the Clean Water Act, will be sentenced at 11 a.m. today by U.S. District Judge Christopher A. Boyko.
Jenkins will be sentenced a week before the scheduled Oct. 11 release of his boss, Ben Lupo, 66, from the Federal Medical Center, Devens, in Massachusetts.
Lupo is completing the 28-month prison term he received after pleading guilty to violating the act. He also was fined $25,000.
“Considered as a whole, Jenkins’ life has been a life of hard work, honesty, generosity and dedication to family,” wrote Attys. John McCaffrey and Adrienne B. Kirshner of Cleveland in a sentencing memorandum they filed on Jenkins’ behalf.
The memorandum says Jenkins was unaware that the storm drain into which the waste was emptied flowed into an unnamed Mahoning River tributary.
It also says Jenkins feared losing his job if he didn’t follow Lupo’s orders concerning waste dumping.
Jenkins admitted violating the act by directing Michael P. Guesman, another employee of Hardrock Excavating LLC, 2761 Salt Springs Road, to dump fracking waste into a storm drain flowing into that unnamed tributary without a permit.
Lupo, Hardrock’s owner, directed Jenkins to contact employees about emptying the stored waste liquids into the storm-water drain at night, the U.S. attorney said.
Hardrock provided services to the oil and gas industry in Ohio and Pennsylvania, including the storage of brine and oil-based drilling mud used in hydrofracturing, or fracking.
The facility had about 58 mobile storage tanks, each holding about 20,000 gallons.
Lupo, of Springfield Township, directed employees to empty some of the waste liquid stored at the facility into the drain on or about Nov. 1, 2012, when they were alone after dark.
The last time an employee emptied waste liquid into the drain was Jan. 31, 2013.
The other defendants in this case were Guesman, of Cortland, and Mark A. Goff of Newton Falls, who were put on probation after pleading guilty to violating the act and saying they repeatedly dumped the waste at Lupo’s direction; and Hardrock Excavating LLC, which pleaded guilty to violating the act and was fined $75,000.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine filed a civil lawsuit against all five defendants in the federal case, plus D&L Energy Inc., another Lupo company, for more than $25,000 on June 3 in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court.
The suit said the discharges from Hardrock violated state environmental-protection laws at least 25 times.
The federal case is being prosecuted by Brad Beeson, an assistant U.S. attorney, after an investigation by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Ohio EPA, the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation, the Youngstown Department of Public Works and the Youngstown Fire Department.