Whose Waste Was It? ODNR Reviews D&L Logs
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio -- More than two weeks after federal authorities charged D&L Energy owner Ben Lupo with violating the Clean Water Act, the question remains: Whose waste was it?
And nearly a full month after D&L employees were caught illegally discharging drilling wastewater into a storm drain that flows into a tributary of the Mahoning River, authorities from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources have yet to determine -- or disclose -- precisely which companies generated the waste.
“I don’t know off the top of my head,” responded Rick Simmers, chief of ODNR’s oil and gas division, when asked which well sites produced the waste. “We’re gathering all those logs and manifests so we can track back each source of waste that could have been a part of this.”
Companies that produce drilling waste, Simmers said Feb. 14, have a responsibility to ensure that the byproducts are properly disposed of and stored. “They could be included” in the criminal complaint, he said.
The Business Journal has since attempted to contact Simmers through voice mail and email regarding the matter, but the ODNR division chief has not replied.
On Feb. 14, Simmers would confirm only that the drilling waste originated from “locations in the immediate area. What we have so far is from Ohio drilling operations.”
Companies actively drilling in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties include Chesapeake Energy, Consol Energy and Halcon Resources.
Lynn Seay, spokeswoman for Consol, said that her company had a contract with D&L subsidiary Mohawk Services, but did not ship drilling waste to the company when the Jan. 31 incident occurred.
“Consol Energy is appalled by the apparent reckless nature of the recent incident at D&L’s Salt Springs Tank facility,” Seay said in an email to The Business Journal.
“Consistent with Consol Energy’s core values of safety, compliance and continuous improvement, we require that all of our contractors and vendors comply with state and federal regulations,” Seay continued. “If we determine they have not, we will immediately discontinue our engagement with them.”
No fluids from Consol wells have been hauled to Mohawk or any other D&L facility as of Feb. 1, she emphasized.
According to documents filed July 30 with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Mohawk Oilfield Rentals Inc. aka Mohawk Services registered a “notice of exempt offering of securities.” The company said at the time it had no revenues; Lupo is listed as its agent.
A subsequent filing Sept. 25 shows that Mohawk’s first sale of equity securities occurred Aug. 23. A total of $600,000 of an offering of $1.1 million worth of stock was sold to 13 investors as of that filing date, records show.
Lupo faces criminal penalties of three years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted of violating the Clean Water Act. He pleaded “not guilty” to the charge.
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Copyright 2013 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.