For Immediate Release

November 2, 2012

Contact: Patty Robertson
Telephone: 512-854-9400

Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg today announced that Pemco Services, Inc. was convicted of Texas Water Code violations relating to the operation of an oil and gas waste landfarming site in Jefferson County, Texas. The District Attorney’s Environmental Protection Unit prosecuted the case.

The charges stemmed from a criminal investigation involving the application of more than 1.3 million barrels of used drilling muds onto the landfarm facility in violation of their permit. The drilling wastes contained elevated amounts of drilling mud constituents that threatened to cause and caused pollution in and around the facility.

Judge Mike Lynch ordered Pemco Services, Inc. to pay fines totaling $1,350,000. The defendant has also agreed to pay $14,534.31 in restitution for lab analysis by the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Laboratory. In addition, the company also spent $1.1 million to clean up the facility, which is now closed.

The conviction is a culmination of the collaborative work of the Texas Environmental Task Force. Lehmberg credited the work of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Environmental Crimes Unit, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Laboratory, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) Environmental Crimes Unit, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Criminal Investigation Division and the Travis County District Attorney’s Office Environmental Protection Unit.

“The Environmental Protection Unit will continue to aggressively prosecute those who harm our natural resources,” said District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg. “This prosecution reflects our commitment to defending the environment.”

###