ASHLAND, Ky. (WSAZ) – A Kentucky oil well owner has pleaded guilty to illegally dumping brine water, a waste product of oil production, into a Lawrence County creek for about two years, killing aquatic life and heavily contaminating the waterway, federal prosecutors said Tuesday.
Josh Ferguson, of Martha, Kentucky, admitted in a plea agreement that he discharged brine water from a metal storage tank through a hose running across a field into the Left Fork Blaine Creek, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Kentucky.
A Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection inspector found the setup on Sept. 3, 2025, after regulators received a tip about the dumping.
Downstream from the discharge point, the creek water was orange and showed “no signs of life,” and tests revealed extremely elevated chloride levels, prosecutors said.
Ferguson acknowledged to the inspector that he had been releasing the waste into the creek to save money and did not have a permit to do so.
The Left Fork Blaine Creek is considered a water of the United States and is protected under the federal Clean Water Act.
“Dumping oil-production waste into Kentucky waterways to save money is both illegal and unacceptable,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Jason Parman said in a statement announcing the plea. He said the case underscores federal efforts to protect public health and “safeguard the natural resources that our communities rely on.”
Leslie Y. Carroll, acting special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s criminal enforcement program in Kentucky, said the ongoing discharges “threatened the public and aquatic life downstream — putting profits over people and the environment” and vowed that EPA and its partners “will investigate violations and hold polluters accountable.”
The investigation was conducted by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection.
Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 10. He faces up to three years in prison and a minimum fine of at least $5,000 per day of violation.
The final sentence will be determined by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning after consideration of federal sentencing guidelines and statutes.
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