FEDERAL PROSECUTORS SAY TWO YEAR LONG DISCHARGE KILLED AQUATIC LIFE AND HEAVILY CONTAMINATED BLAINE CREEK WATERWAY
APRIL 15, 2026 – written by WADE QUEEN
A Lawerence County, 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 on Tuesday, April 14.
Joshua 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 September 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.
Joshua 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 United States Attorney Jason Parman said in a statement announcing the plea. Assistant U.S. Attorney Partman 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.
Joshua Ferguson was charged with one felony count of the charge in an indictment by a federal grand jury on Thursday, January 15.
Joshua Ferguson is scheduled to be sentenced on August 10 in U.S. District Court in Ashland, KY., where 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.
