Freedumb! Employee Of Gas Company Admits Dumping Fracking WasteAt Least 24X Into Mahoning River

[hatrack]

CLEVELAND, Ohio -- An employee of a Youngstown company that stored, treated and disposed of oil and gas drilling liquids admitted this morning to dumping tens of thousands of gallons of fracking waste on at least 24 occasions into a tributary of the Mahoning River. Michael Guesman appeared in U.S. District Court where he pleaded guilty to a charge of unpermitted discharge of pollutants under the Clean Water Act. He faces a sentence of about a year in federal prison, although his time could be reduced by the amount of assistance he provides to prosecutors, and his acceptance of responsibility for his crime.

Guesman 34, of Cortland, said he acted on the orders of his boss at Hardrock Excavating, owner Benedict Lupo, when ran a hose from the 20,000-gallon storage tanks to a nearby storm water drain and opened the release valve. A gusher of waste liquid left over from hydraulic fracturing operations -- commonly known as "fracking" -- poured into the drain, sending saltwater brine and a slurry of toxic oil-based drilling mud, containing benzene, toluene and other hazardous pollutants, flowing into the Mahoning, prosecutors said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Brad Beeson said Guesman is cooperating with investigators, and if necessary will testify for the government at the trial of Lupo, which has not yet been scheduled. Guesman has told investigators that, between Nov. 1 and Jan. 31, Lupo instructed him to dump the fracking waste into the storm sewer at least 24 times, always after dark and after all of the other employees had left the facility, Beeson said.

The black fracking waste left a smelly, oily sheen on the Mahoning, which was located less than a mile away from the Hardrock facility and its 58 storage tanks, investigators said.

EDIT

http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2013/08/youngstown_man_admits_dumping.html

[wtmusic]

1. I hope Michael Guesman has a good life insurance policy. nt

[mike_c]

2. Garret Hardin was right....

As long as there is a commons, someone will always cheat.

[kestrel91316]

7. And if there were no commons and all land were held privately, people like this would

gladly dump toxic waste on other folks' property.

As long as we have unfettered free market capitalism as our religion, people will do this to increase profits.

[mike_c]

9. yup....

Hardin didn't argue that there shouldn't be a commons, but rather that someone will always cheat, so cheaters have to be compelled to respect the commons. My belief is that the compulsion is usually not strong enough. As long as we allow corporate profit to exceed the penalties for taking a crap in the commons, there will be more incentive to cheat than to respect to collective rights of others.

[phantom power]

3. lots of freedumb today

[hatrack]

4. I'm thinking of calling it "Freedumb Fridays" and making it a weekly E&E feature . . .

Whadya think?

[phantom power]

5. Freedumb Fridays sounds like highly enriched, weapons grade win to me

[Champion Jack]

11. Cool!

[rdharma]

6. "acted on the orders of his boss at Hardrock Excavating, owner Benedict Lupo"

It's time to start making some very angry calls to the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.

http://epa.ohio.gov/Portals/47/facts/TableofOrganization.pdf

[pscot]

8. Send a drone to his house

Fire a shot across the bow of any asshole who would launch a chemical attack on his neighbors.

[A Little Weird]

10. But there's no need for regulation, the market will self-regulate!