Two Wyoming Oilfield Bosses Sentenced for Illegal Dumping on Public Land

Two oilfield supervisors from Baggs have been sentenced for directing their crews to illegally dump oilfield waste on federal land in southern Wyoming.

US District Court Judge Alan B. Johnson handed down the decision this week, giving Darwin Crawford and Mark Orchard one year of supervised probation each and ordering them to pay $28,330 in restitution.

The case stems from a 2018 incident when the men, then working as field operations managers for Crowheart Energy, told workers to dig a pit on Bureau of Land Management property southwest of Rawlins and dump about 10 barrels of oilfield waste into it. They then instructed crews to backfill the hole, according to court records.

Tests later showed petroleum hydrocarbon levels at the site were more than 600 times higher than uncontaminated soil samples. The dumping also damaged sagebrush habitat that could have supported nesting sage grouse and sage thrashers, according to the Department of Justice.

A roustabout with another company who was asked to help with the dumping blew the whistle, first reporting it to the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The case was later handed to the BLM for investigation.

Crowheart Energy cooperated with prosecutors and cleaned up the site in 2024 to federal standards. Regulators confirmed that no company was cited in connection with the illegal dumping.

Originally, Crawford and Orchard faced charges carrying up to 10 years in prison and $250,000 in fines. But under plea deals, both admitted guilt to a lesser charge of “willful injury and depredation of government property” involving damage valued under $1,000. Each avoided prison time.

A second charge—“knowing and willful use of public lands in violation of Interior Department regulations”—was dismissed.

The original story by Dustin Bleizeffer for WyoFile.