By Eric Freedman
A federal judge has sentenced an Ohio business owner to one year on probation and a $5,000 fine for illegally dumping a hazardous ammonia-containing substance into the Scioto River near Kenton.
The crime killed more than 40,000 fish.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Darrell Clay also ordered Mark Shepherd, 72, to perform 150 hours of community service and pay $22,509 to the Ohio Division of Wildlife for violating the Clean Water Act.
Shepherd, who co-owns a chemical and fertilizer transportation business, had pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor charge after an investigation by the Environmental Protection Agency and state agencies.
Here’s what happened, according to court documents: In April 2021, Shepherd commingled water from a tanker trailer used to transport anhydrous ammonia – a nitrogen fertilizer — with 7,000 gallons of clean water, then disposed of it into a catch basin.
Local anglers reported the fish kill, and the state Department of Natural Resources calculated that 43,094 fish died, including black bass, flathead catfish, minnows and sunfish.
“The contaminants flowed approximately 18 miles downstream, from where Shepherd illegally dumped it,” the U.S. Attorney’s Office said in a news release.
“The fish kill led to concerns from wildlife officials who noted that bald eagles” – which are a protected species under federal law – “use the river as a food source.”
Shepherd asked Clay to impose probation for what his lawyer described as “a one-time event that was a lapse in judgment.”
His sentencing memorandum said he “mistakenly believed” that mixing the water “to dilute it would have no effect and would be akin to the runoff of anhydrous ammonia (from farmland) that enters the catch basin after it rains.”
Federal prosecutors sought a jail term of six months to a year.
A sentencing memorandum from the prosecution urged Clay to “impose a sentence that will deter Shepherd and those in the community from similar conduct.”
The jail term, which falls within federal sentencing guidelines for the crime, would deter Sheperd and other potential violators so they “take time to ensure what they are dumping into any waterway will not poison the wildlife or inflict any harm. Proper disposal may be expensive, but it is a step the law and communities demand from those who choose to handle these substances,” Assistant U.S. Atty. Matthew Simko wrote in the memorandum.