Big Dumper caught RED HANDED . Stay clear of this bunch !

Check this one out . This is one of the people that dumped on a Monroe county Farm .

WOW !!!!!

Guilty plea in Clean Water Act case

February 14, 2013
From staff reports , The Marietta Times

A New Matamoras man has pleaded guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act by allowing oil and gas well wastewater to flow into a tributary of the Little Muskingum River three years ago.

Robert D. Armstrong, 54, also entered a guilty plea on behalf of his company, RCA Oil and Gas LLC, which was charged with the same offense, according to a news release from U.S. Attorney Carter M. Stewart with the Southern District Court of Ohio.

Armstrong entered the guilty pleas Tuesday before U.S. District Court Judge Michael Watson, who had not set a sentencing date as of Wednesday afternoon.

But, according to court documents from Tuesday's hearing, joint sentencing recommendations agreed to by both parties in the case include 48 hours of imprisonment, followed by eight months of home confinement, with work release time, for Armstrong.

Also recommended is 12 months of supervised release during which Armstrong would complete 288 hours of community service.

He would also agree to arrange for publication of a quarter-page ad in an oil and gas industry magazine, listing the requirements for proper disposal of brine waste and the consequences for failing to do so.

The amount of any fine would be determined by the court.

The maximum sentence that Armstrong could face is three years imprisonment, a $250,000 fine, and a year of supervised release.

Armstrong initially pleaded not guilty to the offense when first indicted on Nov. 29, 2012.

The pollution violation took place in June 2010 at an RCA well off Monroe County 19, about five miles north of New Matamoras in Benton Township.

Armstrong had built a reservoir with an earthen wall to hold water he intended to use in the fracking process of a nearby well.

The reservoir contained approximately 2.2 million gallons of fresh water. But Armstrong had added thousands of gallons of brine or wastewater from the fracking process at two other oil and gas wells to the reservoir.

As a result of the addition, all of the liquid in the reservoir was classified as oil field wastewater.

On June 19, 2010, Armstrong used a backhoe to breach a wall of the reservoir, releasing the wastewater into Rockcamp Run. The reservoir contained about 800,000 gallons of wastewater at the time, most of which entered Rockcamp Run.

Analysis of wastewater from the reservoir showed significant concentrations of barium and sodium.

Ingesting drinking water containing higher levels of barium than the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency drinking water guidelines of 20 milligrams per liter can cause gastrointestinal disturbances and muscle weakness with short-term exposure and kidney damage over a longer period of time.

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Permalink Reply by Farmer John on April 22, 2013 at 6:03am

An Operator has admitted to being guilty of a viiolation.  As in much of life's activity, when one does something illegal and is caught, they should expect prosecution, but not persecution. 

 

How egregious was this  act of disregard for statutes? What were the circumstances? The damages? I can not tell from a lack of specific details. Determine the facts of the matter in a court of law and allow them to  assess an appropriate penalty, then move on.  Everyone trying to be judge and jury, without even having knowledge of all the facts, is unwise. Going to court is tough enough, but being tried in a court of public opinion is oft-times much worse. 

 

My only other comment is that, after reviewing the terms of the sentence, they seem POSSIBILY well-suited to the particular situation. Of course I have no way of knowing, but therein lies my curiosity. If it was well-reasoned, then THAT is refreshing.  Seriously, anyone know WHAT the Community Service might actually consist of?  As for the "Honey-dipping" business, I never made a dollar that way, but I see it as an honest occupation that serves others in their time of need, and that's NO B.S.

 

 

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 9:27am

johnny, i'm not trying to be judge and jury, i'm just trying to figure out what might have happened here with the obviously incomplete set of facts. i like playing amateur sleuth.

whilst i was driving to the store i was thinking about this story, and there's an inconsistency in it which bothered me from the first reading.

it's the amounts of water that were reportedly in this pond at various times that i'm wondering about.

at one time, the earliest time referenced in the article presumably, there were 2.2million gallons of freshwater to which he added a couple of thousand gallons of wastewater. this isnt all that uncommon especially if the water is to be used for frac'ing again.

then when he breached the dam for whatever reason, there were only 800,000 gallons.

what happened to the other million plus gallons? and what exactly was the water that was in the pond when it was released?

now i know some folks are gonna assume that he dumped the other million somewhere next to a kindergarten playground, but i'm thinking he may very well have used that million in frac'ing.

so did he use it all? all 2.2 million gallons? or what?

800,000 gallons sounds like alot of water, but it isnt really. if the impoundment were of a large enough area (we dont know that either) i can well imagine a few good rainstorms depositing that amount of water in the pond. some of these impoundments are 15 acres in my area, that much water would only be a couple of inches in the bottom of one of them.

so what i'm wondering is, did this guy use the water from the pond, and then before he broke it down it accumulated about a swimming pool of rainwater? remember that technically and only technically perhaps was any of that water in fact wastewater?

i wish one of you local guys was interested enough to get some actual facts on this. this one has me really curious now.

wj

Permalink Reply by Susquehanna Sally on April 22, 2013 at 10:19am

Time to move on

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 10:21am

Reply by Susquehanna Sally

"Time to move on"

good, i was hoping you would.

buh bye.

Permalink Reply by paleface on April 22, 2013 at 10:38am

http://water.epa.gov/drink/contaminants/basicinformation/barium.cfm            

                        A little lime in the water would have cleaned it right up.

Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on April 22, 2013 at 11:35am

wj, Sasquash Sally, paleface,

Just can't help but notice all of the people who are standing up for the polluter are not from the area in which the offense was committed.  Just wondering if maybe all of Ohio can start sending the used frac water your way since you seem to like it.  Get real or get gone.

Permalink Reply by Susquehanna Sally on April 22, 2013 at 12:05pm

What?

And really, attacking my appearance (my feet) of which I have no control over is just plain mean. 

Permalink Reply by Doug Duffield on April 22, 2013 at 12:20pm

Only fair being as drilling chips and mud have been sent to Ohio and spread on farmers fields, which have grown some great crops (according to mud mixing specialists who are drilling in pa).

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 12:20pm

john...i'm not really feeling the respect that we talked about anymore.

i'd recommend a book for you, or if you prefer the movie, it is on youtube.

it's called 12 angry men, it is the story of jury deliberations where 11 of the 12 jurors rushed to judgement and simply wanted to get out of there. the story and the outcome might be of interest to someone such as yourself...or not.

and let me remind you that nowhere in this discussion have i said that you or anyone else is wrong. in fact i do not disagree with you except that the facts of this case are certainly incomplete to us at least through that article, and so i will not close my mind without more of them. in other words, to me at least, there is doubt.

also let me remind you that we here are not passing judgement in any legal sense. that has already been done, and to your satisfaction.

folks who discuss these things should be willing at least to hear alternative, sometimes opposing points of view. i have heard yours and have not dismissed them, i simply do not fully agree with them at this point.

finally, when you makes statements like, "Just wondering if maybe all of Ohio can start sending the used frac water your way since you seem to like it.  Get real or get gone.", you show yourself to be a person lacking in character becoming anyone whom i would wish to associate myself with such as in your USA group. i wont speak for others, but i think many folks would choose to disassociate themselves with such persons too. whether you realize it or not, many folks read these threads, they judge you as you post.

i was warned that there was an ohio click here. i think you have just proven that the folks who told me that were correct. no matter though, there are lots of nice folks here too.

ya know john, at the end of it all, we are all shalers, no matter what state we live in.

wj

Permalink Reply by time will tell on April 22, 2013 at 1:34pm

John Obrien , I believe it . Just look at what people vote for . Whats wrong is right and whats right is wrong just look at the health care bill . This monster will end up eating it's supporters .

Back to the dumper , he and others like him  will keep this up until the law is enforced .

Our water is so important but when it comes to profit it takes a back seat .

As for the tanks  on that site they were for holding water and flowing

back during the frac . 

People like WY Jim and that dork Grayson give the good guy's a bad rap .

We should be responsible to the future generations for clean water and 

not pay for our debts .Greed makes some of the good go bad and the

bad get worst .

What rally is a shame is the investors are charged for the proper

disposal of frac water and production water but that greed kicks in

and people like WY-Jim and Grayson stick up for them .Shame to

them for down playing this kinda behavior and Marcus pointing his

finger at sportsman .

If Grayson dosen't care about the wildlife and wants to mock  the

sportsman who own a lot of the lease land property he should keep

it to him self .

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 2:11pm

Reply by time will tell

"People like WY Jim and that dork Grayson give the good guy's a bad rap "

actually if you were paying attention, you would have noticed that i want to prevent not only good operators but the entire energy industry from getting a bad rap from those who would rush to judgement on insufficient evidence.

but you are certainly entitled to paint things in any way which suits your agenda.

it is a shame though that for some of you, when your arguments fall apart, all you choose to fall back on is pedantic name calling.

it'd be nice if we could all take the high road in these discussions, and not harbor prejudices against folks from other states. we are all at least americans here, we do have common ground and common interests if you care to find them.

wj

Permalink Reply by time will tell on April 22, 2013 at 2:51pm

WY-Jim say's :

if you say that just one gallon is too much, how about a pint? how about a teaspoon? a drop? saying that any amount is too much without understand the effects is just silly. 

Well Jim since you are in the industry to and a chemist : 

How much anti corrosion fluid does it take to contaminate a

million gallons of fresh water ? Answer 7 tea spoons .

WJ you started this conflict .there's many others I know in

this industry that agree with me on the importance of fluid

control and it's affects as there are many that take the

same road you do with down playing it .

I have many other facts done by chemists that can back

up what they say .

WY-Jim try taking the high road in stead of protecting the violators .

Your statement :

i want to prevent not only good operators but the entire energy industry from getting a bad rap from those who would rush to judgement on insufficient evidence.


I agree with you on this one .

W-Jim , there is plenty of evidence to prove my statements .

If you think I have a agenda you are correct and it is safe water 

for all of us and future generations and protecting the Energy

Industry from scumbags that are profit driven  at any cost .

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