A Kentucky oil well operator has been fined $20,000 after admitting he illegally discharged polluted water into a creek in northeast Kentucky.
The judge also sentenced Joshua Ferguson, of Martha, to serve 12 months on home detention.
The Kentucky Department of Environmental Protection received a tip last fall about brine water from an oil-well site being dumped into a creek known as Left Fork Blaine Creek, which is Lawrence County and ultimately feeds into Yatesville Lake…