It started with a tip. Someone in the small town of Woodruff, Utah, became suspicious about a semitruck dumping what appeared to be wastewater into “a pond-like area.”
Recently filed court documents show the dumping began in November 2023 and continued into 2024.
Now two men — Braden Corina, 37, of Woodruff and Jeremy Oliver, 47, of Evanston, Wyoming — are charged with four third-degree felonies for allegedly taking Wyoming oil field waste and unlawfully disposing of it in a bucolic corner of Utah just across the Wyoming state line.
In February 2024, the Utah Trust Lands Administration received the tip about semitrucks dumping in Rich County. Rich County Sheriff Dale Stacey and Special Agent Brent Kasza from the Trust Lands Administration started to investigate.
“On Special Agent Kasza’s first trip to the site, he detected a strong chemical odor and observed that the vegetation surrounding the pond-like area had turned black and died,” according to a statement from the Trust Lands Administration.
Investigators said they traced the wastewater back to a site in Bear River, Wyoming. It was intended for proper disposal at a facility in La Barge, Wyoming, but was instead dumped illegally in Utah.
According to reports requested by the Rich County Sheriff’s Office, the wastewater likely contained a mixture of hydrocarbons, including oil, hydraulic fluid, grease, sand, mud and other contaminants commonly found in wastewater produced during the oil drilling and production process.
“The sheer quantity of the pollution was beyond anything I’ve ever seen as an investigator,” said Kasza.
“I was able to uncover that the suspects were dumping the toxic water in Utah, a much shorter distance than what they had been hired to do, and were pocketing the money provided for their expenses they didn’t incur,” continued Kasza in a statement.
Dumping Duo?
The clerk of the Rich County Justice Court in Utah told Cowboy State Daily on Thursday that the men were not arrested, according to the Rich County Jail, but both face four counts of “unlawful discharge of pollutants.”
Oliver’s case is moving through the courts first, with a hearing scheduled for July 8.
Woodruff, where the town website features a photo of a full rainbow arcing over a herd of cows, is just 14 miles from Bear River, making it a much more convenient dump location compared to La Barge, which is a 108-mile trip.
Investigators concluded that the company that hired Oliver and Corina had no knowledge of the corners being cut by the contractors, and it has not been charged in connection with the case.
Take A Sip
Social media chatter about the illegal dumping includes some jabs at Wyoming.
“That oilfield in WY knew damn well those clowns were just going to dump those barrels,” posted The_influenceist, while someone with the handle painfully_average suggested, “Charge them to the full extent of the law, then make them drink it.”
Under Utah law, Oliver and Corina could face fines of $50,000 per day of violation if the person knowingly discharges pollutants in violation of the statute or permit conditions. The law also allows a judge to impose a to-be-determined period of incarceration.
“Discharging pollutants near a small, rural town in Utah is unconscionable,” said Michelle E. McConkie, director of the Trust Lands Administration, in a statement. “This illegal activity appears to have caused damage to the immediate environment and also has the potential to cause harm to the local community.”
The Utah Trust Lands Administration manages about 3.4 million acres of trust lands and generates revenue funding public education.
David Madison can be reached at david@cowboystatedaily.com.
