Man loses job, fined for illegal dumping

by Tiffany Turner

Just because you see someone else do it, doesn’t make it right. Just ask the former truck driver for Wayne’s Hot Oil Service who was recently fined $575 by the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in addition to losing his job for doing something, he claims, he had watched other drivers do numerous times.

According to a BLM release, EOG Resources informed the BLM on Jan. 14 that an oil spill and illegal dumping had taken place at one of its storage facilities in the Dry Piney Drainage area.

Video surveillance of the area showed a truck delivering the last day’s load of oil to the storage facility, the BLM said. The release adds that the man did not realize the tank he was emptying into was full and it spilled roughly eight barrels of oil into the area contained by the earthen berm.

After spilling during offloading, the driver admitted he cleaned his truck tank and drove away with the shutoff valve open. The cleaning and open valve resulted in a spray of one to two barrels of oil in the surrounding area. The driver added that this was something he had seen other drivers do.

BLM’s Roger Alexander said the man was working on BNG Tank Battery 3 located in the original Upper Green River oil field west of Big Piney. The driver was an employee of Wayne’s Hot Oil Service and contracted under EOG Resources.

Alexander stated the fine is the only penalty the BLM can assess for the dumping and spill.

“He was, however, fired by his company before BLM involvement in the case,” Alexander said.

Although the BLM has fined the man along with a Federal Notice of Violation, Alexander said the man does have the right to challenge the determination.

“As far as I understand it it’s still up in the air,” Alexander said. “It’s still in legal limbo… he can either pay the fine or challenge the violation in court.”

The BLM states they investigate all reports of illegal dumping on public lands and asks that all such incidents be reported to the local BLM office or sheriff ’s department.

EOG Resources did not return any calls for comment by press time.