2 plead guilty in Lyon County diesel fuel spill
[MGN]
Two men have pleaded guilty to causing 3,900 gallons of oil to spill into the Yellow Medicine River in April 2019.
Eric Jay Weckworth-Pineda and Tanner John Sik both pleaded guilty to one count of negligent discharge of a pollutant.
Crews work to contain diesel fuel leak in Lyon County
According to the defendants’ guilty pleas, the two used a rifle to shoot at a diesel pipeline that crosses a ditch that enters into the Yellow Medicine River on April 24, 2019. When the two returned to the area later in the day, they saw the pipeline was leaking and reported it to the authorities.
Magellan Midstream Partners, the company that owns the pipeline, said 3,906 gallons of diesel fuel spilled into the ditch.
Both Sik and Wckworth-Pineda could face up to a year in prison and are liable up to $1.13 million in restitution.