A northeast Ohio injection well operator run by a man accused of illegally dumping fracking wastewater into a storm sewer is asking a state panel to overturn an order revoking its operating permit. Both sides agree on one thing â the act that Ben Lupo is accused of is a bad deed. Michael Cyphert is the attorney for Lupoâs company, D&L Energy of Mahoning County.
Ben Lupoâs a bad person. He intentionally directed someone to put brine down a sewer. He shouldnât have done that. He shouldnât have done that. But are those actions to be imputed to D&L Energy simply because heâs an officer of the company or was an officer at the time?
Cyphert claims that Lupo runs several companies, including Hardrock Excavating, which does brine transport, storage and disposal, and D&L Energy, which develops and drills injection wells. And Cyphert says isnât in the brine business. Cyphert says Lupo ordered an employee of Hardrock Excavating, not D&L Energy, to dump the brine â an act he describes as âreprehensibleâ?. âWe donât know why he did it. Perhaps we will not know until his trial on the federal level and he is able to put forth any defenses that he has and a jury of his peers may decide whether heâs actually guilty or not.â? Cyphert says D&L didnât benefit from the act but Hardrock might have, since it would have saved that company money on brine storage. And he also argued that the Ohio Department of Natural Resourcesâ oil and gas division chief Rick Simmers didnât have the authority to revoke D&Lâs injection well operating permit over what he called âa silly, stupid, intentional actâ? done by an officer of another company. âIf the chief wishes to issue an order against those who are responsible, itâs certainly within his prerogative to do so. But donât punish D&L Energy for something it didnât do.â? Brian Ball is the attorney for the state, and said D&L Energy entered into contracts with companies that were not registered and not maintaining compliance with state law â and therefore the company violated the terms of its own permit. And he says there were three companies working together on this operation â and Lupo was in charge of all of them.
I know the witnesses that the state will present will show that in many times they knew they were talking to Ben because he was the heart and soul and the commonality between the consortium of companies located at this address â companies that were often at least in the three considered â Mohawk, Hardrock and D&L Energy â conspiring and causing unlawful activity with systematic routine practice.
And Ball says itâs clear why Lupo made the choice he did â Ball says Lupoâs company was paid to handle fracking wastewater, and so he ordered the dumping of that fluid into the storm sewer to make money. âSome of it wasnât going to go in the ground. Some of it was going to go on the ground. And routinely at night with his direction. And that is strictly the business they were in.â? Bottom line, says Ball, is that the chief of the oil and gas division is allowed to issue orders to enforce the terms and conditions of permits. And Ball says as the head of all three companies is responsible for the actions of any one of them. âWhile Mr. Lupoâs acts present personal liability for him. Liability for violations of Chapter 1509 is strict, joint and several. Therefore, as persons, D&L Energy, Hardrock and Mohawk are also all liable.â? Testimony continues in the hearing â a decision on D&L Energyâs continued operations could happen this week.