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PA ALASKA DRILLING CORPORATION AND EMPLOYEES SENTENCED
Release Date: 10/16/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, OCTOBER 16, 1998
ALASKA DRILLING CORPORATION AND EMPLOYEES SENTENCED
Doyon Drilling Inc. (DDI), an Alaskan Corp., that provides drilling services throughout the North Slope; Ben Shafsky, DDI’s Assistant Operations Manager; and Allan Sinclair, a former drilling rig supervisor were sentenced by the U.S. District Court for the District of Alaska in Anchorage on Oct. 2, for violating the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). In April, DDI pleaded guilty to 15 misdemeanor violations of the OPA which occurred between 1993-1995 when DDI employees injected paint thinner, paint, oil and solvents down the outer rim of oil producing wells on Endicott Island. Shafsky and Sinclair previously pleaded guilty to a felony for mistakenly concealing the illegal disposal of hazardous waste and failing to notify federal officials about the crime. DDI was ordered to pay a fine of $3 million and serve five years probation. However, $2 million of the fine may be offset over a five year period if the company spends an equivalent amount on the implementation of an environmental compliance program. Shafsky was ordered to pay a $25,000 fine and serve five years probation. Sinclair, was sentenced to four months of confinement, a $25,000 fine and five years probation. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division and the FBI.
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