Salt Lake City – The investigators suspect that the wastewater was illegally unloaded by an oil production location in Wyoming in a pond in Rich County.
According to court documents, the 47 -year -old Jeremy Oliver and the 37 -year -old Braden Lance Cornia were charged because of four counts of the illegal pollutants.
In February 2024, the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration received an indication that Semitrock's “had left a wastewater several times near the city of Woodruff in Rich County,” said a release of the Trust Lands Administration.
The Rich County Sheriff's Office and the Trust Lands Administration examined and reported that a “strong chemical smell” was found on the pond, and “the vegetation that surrounded the pond area had become black and died.”
“The sheer amount of pollution was beyond everything I have ever seen as an investigator,” said Brent Kasza, special representative of the Trust Lands Administration.
The investigators discovered that the wastewater from a location in Bear River, Wy, should be disposed of properly from a facility in Labarge, Wy, but part of the waste water was unloaded in Rich County instead.
“The toxic water from the oil field outside the state was not properly disposed of by two individual contractors who were set for the proper wastewater,” said the Trust Lands Administration.
In the release, the waste water probably contained “a mixture of hydrocarbons”, which included oil, fat, hydraulic fluid, sand, mud and “other contaminants that were often present in waste water that were produced during the oil drilling and production process.
The investigators found that the company had no knowledge of the illegal dumping, and it was not charged with the case. Kasza said that the contractors were a shorter route than they were hired and put the money.
“The discharge of pollutants near a small rural city in Utah is confusing,” said Michelle E. McConkie, director of the Trust Lands Administration. “This illegal activity seems to damage the immediate environment and also has the potential to harm the local community.”