Youngstown Shale Wastewater Dumper Faces Jail and Big Fines

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MDN has been tracking the story of Ben Lupo, owner of Hardrock Excavating and D&L Energy in Youngstown, OH. Lupo instructed an employee to repeatedly dump shale drilling wastewater into a storm drain that ended up in the Mahoning River. The Ohio Dept. of Natural Resources quickly shut down both Hardrock and D&L (see OH Company Dumping Frack Wastewater in Drain May Appeal Shut-Down). It was thought there was originally up to six dumping incidents and about 200,000 gallons of wastewater, but the Hardrock employee involved has confessed it was more like 20 dumping incidents. It represents a mind-boggling millions of gallons of wastewater literally down the drain.

In addition to having his companies shut down, Lupo now faces the prospect of jail time and huge fines. He’s facing federal criminal charges from the U.S. Attorney’s office for violating the Clean Water Act:

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