Lawrence County Man Charged for Contaminating Creek

By Roberta Cantrell
BSN Editor

A Lawrence County oil well operator has been indicted for a violation of the Clean Water Act.

Joshua Ferguson was charged by a federal grand jury with the felony count in an indictment handed down in the United States District Court in Ashland Thursday January 15.

The indictment states Ferguson was the owner and operator of Oil Production Wells in Lawrence County and in addition to the wells, he maintained tanks to collect water that was produced as a waste product of oil production commonly referred to as produced water or brine water on Sept, 3, in Lawrence County and elsewhere.

It alleges that he knowingly discharged and caused the discharge of pollutants, namely wastewater generated from oil production, from a point source into Left Fork Blain Creek without a NPDES (National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System) permit.

If convicted he faces a sentence of up to three years in prison and a fine between $5,000 and $50,000 for each day of violation and not more than one year of supervised release.

A judge has ordered him to appear in Ashland Federal Court on Feb. 12 to answer the charge.

The indictment was signed by Paul C. McCaffrey, First Assistant US Attorney.