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 wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 4:17am

well john, one of us may be wrong, or both of us, or neither possibly, this is a discussion, and this discussion lacks facts to make good conclusions. and so the discussion continues.

and btw, even if i am wrong about everything i've ever thought, i see no reason for respect to fall by the wayside.

you said, "The tanks in the pictures are indeed water storage tanks that are used on every drill site since time began.".thats not exactly true.

maybe in ohio all produced water tanks look like that, but here in nepa, i've never seen one remotely resembling them. the tanks on the pads here in nepa are much bigger, they stand vertically and they are much better maintained. those tanks have skids under them, nothing like what we have near me, the tanks here are permanently placed in protective impoundments in case of rupture.

again, those tanks look almost exactly like the tanks that i used to fill my excavator from when i operated.

and thats not to say that i am calling you a liar. to the contrary, i am learning something here, and what i have learned so far is that ohio may do things considerably different than what is done here in pa. i assure you, if you came here being used to seeing those tanks, you'd likely scratch your head and say, "never seen nothin' like that before".

you say that my kind of thinking created places like love canal john. seriously?

bad business practices created environmental problems, not folks who discuss them afterwards trying to discern truth from fiction.

i was hoping that you werent the type of person who believes everything he reads in print. maybe i am wrong about that at least.

another thing that seems odd with those photos is, that the area is extremely muddy. it looks suggestive of massive amounts of water being dumped, but looking at it, it's on a hill. most water dumped on top of a hill runs downhill pretty quickly. those pics look like they were taken during an extremely wet period of time. could be rainwater thats laying in those puddles from a recent storm.

ya know, i've seen logging operations that looked alot worse too. muddy ruts in backwoods areas with diesel fuel and hydraulic oil shimmering on the tops of the puddles.

and john. i have constant drilling and piplining operations going on around where i live. i could take you a thousand pictures that look just like those pictures and maybe even worse. so dont try to make it sound as if you're the only one with such activities to deal with.

wj

Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on April 22, 2013 at 4:30am

WJ,

No disrespect or lack of respect intended.  You might be assuming however that this fellow was working on a deep well.  He was not.  These type of tanks are used every day in my county on the shallower deposits.  Remember, the original offense happened in 2007, no deep wells in our county back then.  I have built compressor stations for Antero on marcellus sites in WV.  I have installed the tanks and dikes you speak of on those sites.  However we still used the smaller tanks for hydrotest purposes.  In which case they held potable water because that is what is required in the specs of companies who do that type of work.  But even then, we were required by law to dispose of otherwise clean drinking water, that was removed from the pipes after hydrotest, in a state approved sewage facility.  Once again you can take my word to the bank.  It is first hand experience and cannot be refuted.  You may be taking pictures, but I may have been in them.

As for "your type of thinking" what I meant was, that when we see something that is being done in an environmentally unsafe manner we need to say something to stop it.  We cannot just say, Oh well, everybody does it.  Or even think that way.  Ignoring it will indeed cause big problems.

Take care.

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 5:12am

john, im not suggesting that we ignore any bad behavior at all, only that we be certain that what we think we see, is what is actually whats going on.

ok, so you said there that tanks such as those in the picture are used for hydrostatic testing (pipelines i assume), and that potable water is used for those tests in your area.

in my area, creek water is sometimes used, and that creekwater water can be released back into waterways after the testing is completed.

so...if those tanks in the pictures contained used potable water, what harm was done if some of it leaked onto the ground?

wj

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 10:15am

john, i would love to know the truth here. but neither you nor i know it for sure.

what you say that i am twisting, is based on what you yourself said, that those tanks in the pictures that time will tell posted are sometimes used for test water.

" However we still used the smaller tanks for hydrotest purposes.  In which case they held potable water because that is what is required in the specs of companies who do that type of work."

were they or werent they? what exactly was in them?

facts john, facts are what is needed to make good, well reasoned decisions about these sorts of things...not emotions.

and also, i cannot find in that article where he admitted guilt. he pled guilty, which is different, and remember again, that originally he pled not guilty.

did he make a statement of guilt that you know of? if he did, that would wrap it up for me.

wj

Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on April 22, 2013 at 10:31am

wj, "creek water was used for testing"

I hate to call anyone a liar, but, I have worked in the industry since 1982.  Creek water was never allowed to be used for hydro test purposes in PA, WV, NY, OH, IN, VA or any other state I worked in.  At least not legally.  Ask this question of Columbia Gas, Dominion, Texas Eastern, or anybody who would know.  It is just not true.

With that said, I have no reason to believe any of the hogwash you spout.

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 10:37am

yup, might not have been legally used, i'm not familiar with the regs on that.

freshwater nonetheless.

wj

Permalink Reply by time will tell on April 22, 2013 at 8:19am

That was very well put John . I say run the bums out of this business 

so the GOOD GUY'S  can help us get our energy out in a safe manor !

Permalink Reply by time will tell on April 22, 2013 at 8:16am

I am with you John . This was done to save money plain and simple .

Oh by the way WJ's comment proves how simple he is .

Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on April 22, 2013 at 3:21am

WJ,

"you seem to be on this one particular guys tail."

No chit, he dumped in my backyard!!!

Permalink Reply by Susquehanna Sally on April 22, 2013 at 4:07am

Jackie O

Now we are getting somewhere as you are an eye witness.  Thanks for posting.

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on April 22, 2013 at 4:22am

john, are you sure that he is the only one to do so? are you sure that the oil and gas industry is the worst offender here?

again...have you ever taken a sample of the water from that creek and had it analyzed?

wj

Permalink Reply by John OBrien, landowner advocate on April 22, 2013 at 10:11am

wj,

It doesn't matter if he is the only one.  It doesn't matter if the O & G is the worst offender. And yes I have analyzed the water from my creek.  I have also done biological testing to find the types of larvae that live in my runs that fill that creek.  There are stonefly, mayfly and others that will not, for you I will repeat this, will not live in polluted water.  That i learned when studying for my degree in Fish Management and Wildlife at Hocking College.  One of the premiere schools who offer this degree.  They have more graduates working for the US Fish & Wildlife than any other college in the country.  Jim, give it up dude.  Shall I send you a copy of my diploma with a 3.85 GPA.

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