On Friday, February 10, 2012, The Times-Picayune reported that Edward Hannan was sentenced to six months of home detention for the improper disposal of “produced water” (water brought to the
surface along with oil or gas), was fined $15,000.00 and placed on three years probation under the Clean water Act. The alleged disposal took place between July 2006 and 2007, from an oil company platform into Breton Sound just north of Plaquemines Parish. According to the article, on July 26, 2007, an LDEQ inspector observed the illegal discharge.
Hannan’s sentence was reduced significantly from what it could have been based upon cooperation credit in helping the government obtain evidence and a plea against the corporate entity that had
retained Hannan’s company. Linder Oil Co. had retained St. Bernard Well Service Co. to handle its produced water. A Linder Oil employee noticed errors in the reports from Hannan’s company and reported the errors to her supervisor. In response, Hannan told the supervisor that there was no contaminated wastewater. Proper disposal methods would have included loading the produced water onto a barge and taken to a disposal site onshore.
Ivan Vikin, the SAIC of the USEPA Region 6 CID, and AUSA Dorothy Manning Taylor participated in the prosecution.
More later.
As always, feel free to contact me at walter.james@jamespllc.com
WDJiii
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