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Oklahoma Company Agrees To Pay Penalty For Oil Spill

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An Oklahoma company has agreed to pay a $1-million penalty for allowing thousands of gallons of oil to seep into an ephemeral creek south of Rawlins in 2011.

Thomas Sansonetti, a lawyer for the company Nadel and Gussman Rockies, entered a guilty plea for the company Friday before U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson in Cheyenne.

Johnson accepted the plea for the misdemeanor violation of the federal Clean Water Act conditionally pending his review of a presentence report. He set sentencing for January.

Federal prosecutor Bob Murray told Johnson over 4,700 gallons of oil spilled into Emigrant Creek after a contract pumper left a tank valve open overnight.

Murray said the pumper and the company's operations manager failed to report the spill and initially denied knowledge of it to federal investigators.

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