6/11/2025
WT Staff
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June 11 254 pm EDT
SDWA Legal
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2010; Case ID# CR_2032(Pennsylvania)
200,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater dumped illegally in Allegheny River watershed
One of two criminal cases under the Safe Drinking Water Act in Pennsylvania
The defendants in this case were charged with violation of the Safe Drinking Water Act for an act of illegal dumping endangering the groundwater aquifer below the Allegheny National Forest. The principal defendant was the site supervisor responsible for Swamp Angel Energy, a Kansas based company operating in the Allegheny River watershed of Pennsylvania. The second defendant was a co-owner of the company, personally charged and convicted for the illegal dumping of oilfield waste in an unpermitted well.
The federal district court in Pennsylvania was presented a bill of information stating, from April 2007 to January 2008, the defendants dumped more than 200,000 of brine, the wastewater produced during oil drilling, in to an oil production well not permitted for this purpose.
Oilfield brine disposal is regulated by environmental laws for the protection of drinking water sources, among other environmental concerns. The two were sentenced to 36 months probation for each, with a federal fine to boot.
Probation: 6 years total; Federal Fines: $9,000 total
See last SDWA Legal, "Locked up for a year and a half for false certification", here.
SDWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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