[StBernard] Meraux man sentenced to home arrest for dumping oil field wastewater

[Westley Annis]

Meraux man sentenced to home arrest for dumping oil field wastewater

Published: Friday, February 10, 2012, 11:30 PM

 By Benjamin Alexander-Bloch, The Times-Picayune 

A Meraux man who once held a contract with a Covington oil company was
sentenced this week in federal court to six months of home detention for not
properly off-loading "produced water," the water brought to the surface
along with oil or gas.

Edward Hannan, 61, on Thursday also was fined $15,000 and placed on
probation for three years for releasing the wastewater, likely between July
2006 and 2007, from the Linder Oil Co. platform into Breton Sound about 10
miles north of Plaquemines Parish. Linder Oil had contracted with St.
Bernard Well Service to perform the day-to-day production functions,
including the on-site handing of the produced water for off-site disposal.

Hannan, who was the St. Bernard Well Service on-site manager, admitted on
Aug. 25 to violating the federal Clean Water Act by ordering an employee to
discharge the pollutant. On July 26, 2007, a Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality inspector observed one of his employees doing so from
a tank on the platform that Hannan was responsible for operating.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. Roy Nash said the "sentence demonstrates the United
States' steadfast commitment to safeguarding public health and the marine
environment" and that the government holds "non-compliant companies and
operators accountable for violating environmental laws."

Hannan's sentence was reduced because he helped the government obtain a plea
deal against Linder in 2009. While St. Bernard Well Service was responsible
for the decision to discharge the wastewater, and actually discharged it,
Linder Oil did not implement sufficient safeguards to detect and prevent
that discharge, according to plea agreement.

Linder Oil paid a $50,000 fine and a community service payment of $20,000 to
the Southern Environmental Enforcement Network and the Louisiana State
Police Right to Know Fund, which contributes to hazardous-materials
information, preparedness and response activities.

Sometime before July 2007, a Linder Oil employee noticed what she believed
to be a typographical error in the reports from St. Bernard Well Service and
she contacted her supervisor and showed him that the reports from July 2006
reflected no produced water. Her supervisor contacted Hannan but Hannan told
the supervisor that the well was producing "clean oil."

Hannan had been telling Linder Oil there was no contaminated wastewater,
allegedly to help maintain his contract with the company. Under proper
procedure, the wastewater should have been loaded onto a barge and taken to
a disposal site onshore.

Ivan Vikin, in charge of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency criminal
enforcement program in Louisiana, said the sentence "should send a clear
message to other potential violators that the EPA will work aggressively to
seek prosecution for those who intentionally break the law to make money."

The federal case was investigated by the EPA and the Coast Guard, and was
prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Dorothy Manning Taylor in New Orleans.

Benjamin Alexander-Bloch can be reached at bbloch at timespicayune.com or
504.826.3321.

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