Sixty-four-year-old drilling company owner Benedict Lupo has been sentenced to jail for dumping fracking waste into a river tributary in Cleveland, Ohio. For the frail Lupo, jail will be a death sentence, according to his lawyer, but the judge rejected a request for home detention, according to a Cleveland Plain Dealer report.
In his decision, US District Judge Donald Nugent cited Lupo’s ordering of two employees to dump the waste and then to lie about it. When the employees tried to talk Lupo out of dumping the waste in the tributary, Lupo refused. Nugent also cited the damage that had been done to the creek, which had been rendered, according to the prosecution, “void of life.”
“Even the most pollution-tolerant organisms, such as nymphs and cadis flies, were not present,” wrote assistant US attorney Brad Beeso. “The creek was essentially dead.”
In addition to 28 months of jail, Nugent fined Lupo $25,000.
Lupo was charged under the US Clean Water Act, and had pled guilty to unpermitted discharge of pollutants after state authorities had investigated his plant on a tip and caught an employee dumping the waste.
Lupo’s employees had purged the waste from oil and gas treatment into a storm-drain that fled into the river tributary 33 times between 2012 and 2013. The waste was a byproduct of fracking, a process involving saltwater brine, oil-based mud, benzene, toluene and other pollutants.
Lupo’s defense had asked for leniency in the sentence, requesting that the time be served at home, due to Lupo’s health. Lupo suffers from diabetes and chronic pain, according to defense attorney Roger Synenberg, and requires daily dialysis treatments.
“If he goes to jail, it’s the death penalty for him,” said Synenberg.
The two employees were sentenced earlier this year. Michale Guesman received three years probation and Mark Goff received a similar sentence. The two pled guilty under the same Clean Water Act charges as Lupo. The two men had explained that they dumped the waste after everyone else left the plant after dark, and were ordered by Lupo to lie if questioned. The two stated that they feared losing their jobs if they did not comply.
“Clean air and fresh water is the birthright of every man, woman and child in this state,” said US Attorney Steven Dettelbach. “Intentionally breaking environmental laws is not the cost of doing business, it’s going to cost business owners their freedom.”
By James Haleavy