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MINNESOTA COMPANY SENTENCED FOR OIL SPILL
Release Date: 01/14/2000
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JAN. 14, 2000
MINNESOTA COMPANY SENTENCED FOR OIL SPILL
Plummer Excavating Inc., of Plummer, Minn., was sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the District of in Minneapolis on Jan. 7, for violating the Clean Water Act. Plummer was also sentenced to pay a $50,000 fine and an amount of restitution which will be determined at a later date for damages caused by an oil spill. On Sept. 16, 1998, a backhoe operated by a Plummer employee struck a crude oil pipeline which spilled nearly 218,000 gallons of crude oil into a drainage ditch that flows into the Clearwater River. Noxious fumes from the oil spill and the resulting fire hazard led authorities to evacuate the city of Plummer. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the FBI, the U.S. Department of Transportation, the Minnesota Office of Pipeline Safety and the Red Lake County Sheriff’s Department. The case was prosecuted by the U.S. Department of Justice.
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