Gulfport Energy Employee Sentenced for Polluting Bay

LAFAYETTE, La. – Gulfport Energy Employee Brian Osborn, 43, has been sentenced to one day in prison for negligently discharging pollutants into West Cote Blanche Bay.

According to the U.S. Attorney’s office, Osborn, who was Gulfport Energy Corporation’s operation manager for the platform, should have been aware of the problem and failed to address it in a timely manner.

The pollutants were produced waters left over after separating oil from drainage fluids. Instead of being disposed of via barge, injection well or other approved method, they were dumped into the bay from June 2011 until March 2012.

The evidence presented at Osborn’s guilty plea showed that the platform continued to illegally discharge the produced water at certain production rates over a 10-month period.

Osborn was also ordered to perform 200 hours of community service as part of his sentence.

Gulfport Energy Corporation, the company where Osborn worked, pleaded guilty to the same charges in 2014 and was ordered to pay $1.5 million in fines and community service. The company paid a $1.125 million fine for violating the Clean Water Act and $375,000 in community service, which was split among several organizations, including the Louisiana State Police Emergency Services Unit and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality.

The investigation into the pollution was conducted by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality-Criminal Investigations Division. Assistant U.S. Attorney Myers P. Namie prosecuted the case.