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10/14/2026
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtla.us
Oct 14 2026 127 pm CDT
CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2013; Case ID# CR_2505 (Louisiana)
Employees trimmed expenses by doctoring produced wastewater samples. A million dollar penalty ensued for illegal dumping of oil and grease into the Gulf
One of EPA's primary missions is to ensure that federal laws protecting human health and the environment are enforced fairly and effectively. To do that, we must receive accurate and honest tests and measurements.
- Ivan Vikin, Special Agent in Charge, US EPA Criminal Investigation Division, LA
This is a case of a Defendant with dedicated and creative staff, willing to improvise a solution to an ongoing company expense. The Defendant in this case is a corporation contracted to produce oil and gas from a manned offshore platform in the Gulf. The Defendant plead guilty to a felony violation of the CWA, for illegally discharging contaminants to waters of the USA.
In the course of extracting oil and gas from a productive well, salty brine water mixes with flammable hydrocarbons, producing an oily wastewater that cannot be released to the environment without treatment. In normal operations, the separated oil and grease are contained on the platform for proper disposal, picked up by a service barge licensed for handling hazardous materials.
Federal District Court in Eastern Louisiana learned the EW910 Platform, under production and managed by the Defendant, held a National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination Permit (NPDES). Under this permit, the facility was allowed to release up to 42 mg/L oil and grease per day, with no more than 29g/L as the monthly average. In order to appear compliant with the discharge permit, the Defendant's employees admitted to tinkering with the samples, straining a small volume of produced wastewater through coffee filters. The filtered samples were submitted for lab analysis, appearing compliant with the discharge permit while the unfiltered wastewater was dumped overboard. This deception allowed the Defendant to save on the cost of disposal nearly four years before the contamination was detected and stopped.
The financial penalty assessed in the case was one million dollars, including a federal fine and community service payment. Court supervision of the Defendant's future activities was set at a term of three years.
Federal fine: $700,000; Community Service: $300,000; Probation: 36 months.
See last week's CrimeBox here, "Well site supervisor convicted on CWA charges for faking pressure tests on oil rig blow-out preventer"
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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