A Kentucky man has pleaded guilty to violating federal safety regulations in connection with illegally hauling radioactive waste to a landfill in Estill County, reports the Lexington Herald Leader.
Cory David Hoskins pleaded guilty Feb. 24 in federal court to two charges of shipping the waste without the proper labeling. He faces up to five years in prison and fine of up to $250,000 when sentenced in June.
The indictment against him also included charges of mail fraud, punishable by up to 20 years in prison, in relation to five checks totaling $127,110 he received for shipping the waste. Those charges are expected to be dismissed under the plea deal.
According to court documents, Hoskins operated a company called Advanced TENORM Services in West Liberty. The Herald Leader reports TENORM stands for “technologically enhanced naturally occurring radioactive material,” which is a waste product of hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, to recover oil and natural gas, and is classified as hazardous because of low-level radioactivity.
Hoskins’ company contracted to haul and dispose of waste from the oil and gas industry in 2015 and 2016, according to his plea agreement.
Trucking companies that haul hazardous waste are supposed to have a special safety permit, and the material and trucks hauling it are supposed to be marked with notices that the material is hazardous.
The plea agreement also states Hoskins told the head of a company in West Virginia that he was an expert in testing for radium, but he didn’t do any tests to figure out the level of radioactivity in the sludge before hiring trucking companies to transport it.
He also hired trucking companies that didn’t have a permit to handle hazardous waste; didn’t tell the truckers the sludge was hazardous; and didn’t properly label the containers, he acknowledged.
At least one driver also asked if the waste was hazardous, and Hoskins reportedly told him it wasn’t.
Hoskins arranged for 46 shipments of the waste from West Virginia to Kentucky in July and August 2015, according to his plea. Hoskins had the waste hauled to the Blue Ridge Landfill in Estill County, which was not rated to handle it.
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