ASHLAND, Ky. – A Martha, Ky., man, Josh Ferguson, 42, was sentenced on Tuesday to 5 years’ probation, with 12 months of home detention and electronic monitoring, and a $20,000 fine by Chief U.S. District Judge David Bunning for knowingly discharging waste product into waters of the United States.
According to his plea agreement, in the fall of 2025, the Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection (“Kentucky DEP”) received a tip about the discharge of “brine water,” a waste product of oil production, into the Left Fork Blaine Creek in Lawrence County. On September 3, 2025, a Kentucky DEP inspector investigated the site where Ferguson owned two oil production wells. A hose connected to a metal brine tank ran through a field to the Left Fork Blaine Creek, where it was actively discharging waste product into the waterway. Downstream of the discharge, the water was orange with no signs of life, and water samples indicated extremely elevated chloride levels. When interviewed by the Kentucky DEP inspector, Ferguson admitted that he had been discharging brine water into the creek in order to save money, that he did not have a permit to do so, and that the conduct had been ongoing for two years. The Left Fork Blaine Creek is a water of the United States.
Brine water—commonly referred to in the oil and gas industry as produced water or formation water—is classified under United States federal law as a non-hazardous solid waste exempt from stringent federal hazardous waste management regulations
Jason Parman, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Kentucky and Anthony R. Hatton, Commissioner, Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection, jointly announced the sentence.
The investigation was conducted by SA Ryan Baker with the EPA-CID and Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection. Assistant U.S. Attorney Emily Greenfield prosecuted the case on behalf of the United States.
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