A Denver-based energy company admitted to
federal misdemeanor charges and was sentenced Wednesday after migratory
birds died in oil field ponds operated by one of its subsidiaries, Nance
Petroleum Inc. of Billings.
Appearing in U.S. District Court in Billings on
behalf of SM Energy Co., Gregory Schrab, the company’s environmental, health
and safety manager, pleaded guilty to three counts of unlawful taking of
migratory birds.
Schrab said Nance Petroleum didn’t respond as
quickly and fully as it could have to the problem and that SM Energy was taking
responsibility.
Schrab said the company is adopting an
enforcement compliance plan and already has imposed an avian protection plan
companywide. SM Energy is an independent oil and gas exploration company with
700 employees. It operates in eight states.
The company expects to spend about $300,000 on
the compliance plan, Schrab said.
The hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Carolyn
Ostby consolidated cases in Montana, Wyoming and Nebraska and included an
arraignment, plea change and sentencing.
Ostby followed a plea agreement and ordered SM
Energy to pay a fine of $22,500, which was $7,500 per count, and to pay $7,500
in a community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.
The fine will go to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund for wetlands
conservation work in Montana.
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