The morning session started off rather slowly. The government called three employees of Republic Contractors to talk about the installation of the various outfall lines at the Red River. First up was Curtis Wright, the president of RCI. He testified generally as to RCI records and some of the work performed at the facility. He confirmed the various work done at the outfall. He testified that all of the work was done at the request of John Tuma. He was shown various photographs of the outfall configurations and confirmed that it was RCI work.
The testimony was largely factual and non-controversial. Cross examination essentially covered the same ground. One point of interest in the cross was that Mr. Boren asked about a cutting of the outfall line that occurred in late October 2007, where Mr. Wright and his employee David Allen, had to hike about 100 yards to the spot where the line was to be severed. Mr. Boren got Mr. Wright to explain that the trek was not easy and would be hard at night (calling into question early testimony of employees walking the line to check for monitoring equipment). There was a somewhat curious exchange regarding "pigs" and "pig launchers" which may be a prelude to a defense argument.
David Allen with RCI was up next. He was the employee who actually did the work on the outfall lines. Mr. Allen testified that he was at the plant usually five days a week doing various work. Doing plant work, he took his orders from Wayne Mallet and Charlie Tubbs, plant employees. For the outfall work, he testified that he got those orders from Curtis Wright, his boss. Mr. Allen testified about a blue pipe being installed to the Red River and that the line was not capped at the time of the installation. Mr. Allen also testified that on October 23, 2007, he cut the blue line off and installed a cap on the outfall line. Mr. Allen also testified that he was the welder who removed the "tie-in" pipe from the pipe rack outside the North Building. He also testified that in all of his years of welding he had never seen a pipe like that. His last testimony on direct was about a sampling port installed on the discharge line that was not actually set up to take a sample of what was being discharged; rather, it was set up to allow City water to be sampled.
Mr. Boren's cross was focused on the process for constructing the various lines and changes to the outfall. He also probed the testimony regarding the contrived sample port.
The last RCI employee was Charles Burns. He testified regarding the initial installation of the outfall line to the center of the Red River. He also testified that when the line was put in, sometime in early December 2006, there was no cap on the outfall line. There was no cross examination of this witness.
The last witness of the morning was Cody Tuma. The government began by reviewing his plea agreement with him, essentially no promises were made and he is still subject to sentencing. Cody Tuma hen testified that in November 2011, as a result of finding Christ, he wanted to do the right thing, but struggled mightily with what to do. He testified that he went to speak to John Tuma who was not receptive. He testified that he asked his father if he, John Tuma, ever thought about doing the right thing. Cody Tuma testified that he told his father he was "tired of living this way." John Tuma's response was, according to Cody Tuma: We are too far into this to turn back." After getting no positive reception, Cody Tuma then talked to his attorney and then in turn his attorney came to the government to seek a plea bargain. When asked why he was there testifying, he stated: I just want to do the right thing." He testified that in finding Christ he was learning how to be a man, a father and a husband.
Cody Tuma was 22 when he started working at the plant (sometime in late 2004, early 2005). He first started as just a plant worker but was then promoted to night shift supervisor. He testified that the plant started getting busy when the facility began accepting E&P waste for treatment. The volume of truck varied from a couple of trucks to over 100 a night. Bonuses were paid by John Tuma when records were set. The night shift usually accepted E&P waste only. He supervised up to seven employees on his crew.
Mr. Tuma testified that Wayne Mallet was the plant manager but his father, John Tuma, was in charge and made all of the decisions. Cody Tuma testified that while the waste water was supposed to be treated, it was usually not treated. Trucks would come in and be off-loaded to various tanks. He testified that essentially, a truck could be unloaded to any tank in the facility. He testified that there were a lot of pipes and there was no restriction on where waste water could be sent in the facilty. He also testified that any tank could be lined up for discharge to either the City POTW or the Red River. Cody Tuma testified that the piping changed over time and that John Tuma made all of the decisions on the changes. When asked why the changes were necessary, Cody Tuma testified it was get around a meter, a sampling point or just to get a new discharge point.
Cody Tuma testified that the treatment process did not work and it slowed the movement of water through the facility. Cody Tuma testified to concocting a recipe of water to be placed in Tank B1 for Ana-Lab to sample as part of the ruse. This was done on the orders of John Tuma. Cody Tuma also testified to the various manipulations to bypass flow meters and compositors. This was done by unplugging meters, bypassing them with piping or just disengaging them. Compositors were emptied and filled with clean water. This was all done on the orders of John Tuma. Cody Tuma testified that he discharged untreated water to either the City POTW or the Red River every day. Cody Tuma testified as to watching for City employees and what would be done if City employees showed up to sample. Towards the end when the monitoring equipment became more onerous, the facility stopped discharges until a work-around could be found.
When Ana-Lab installed a new compositor, Cody Tuma testified that he would empty the water that had been collected in the compositor and fill it with clean water. He also testified that John Tuma would periodically have the facility design samples to fail analysis for permit parameters to make things more realistic. Cody Tuma testified that the facility leased tanks at the port for additional storage capacity. There was only one line to and from the facility.
As to the USEPA inspection in June 2007, Cody Tuma testified that when the USEPA took a sample of the water from the port tanks, it was dirty. Cody Tuma told Ken AuBuchon, the USEPA inspector, that he was going to the port to check it out. In the way there, he called his father, John Tuma, who told him to open all of the valves at the port tanks and tell Ken AuBuchon that the tanks got contaminated by someone tampering with the valves. He testified that when he came back to the facility, he put on an act for Ken AuBuchon, that he was angry about the valves being left open. He also testified to assisting Wayne Mallet in faking the pump cavitation. He was asked by Ken AuBuchon to provide a written statement regarding the pump cavitation, which he did. He now admits that it was all a lie. Cody Tuma also stated that he lied to CCS's investigator. He said he had talked to John Tuma about it and John Tuma told him to lie. He also testified that John Tuma coached him to lie in his deposition given in the civil lawsuit John Tuma filed against CCS.
Cody Tuma acknowledged that he had just admitted to perjury on the stand as to his deposition and that he could be charged in Harris County, Texas with perjury. When asked why the jury should believe him, he stated that he had made a lot af wrong choices in his life and he was now trying to be a better man, father and husband. He testified that he is telling the truth today.
Cody Tuma will be facing cross examination this afternoon.
More later.
As always, feel free to contact me at walter.james@jamespllc.com
WDJiii
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