MILWAUKEE (WTAQ) – A former pipeline monitor has pleaded guilty to federal safety violations connected with a jet fuel leak three years ago at Milwaukee’s Mitchell Airport.
44-year-old Randy Jones of Houma Louisiana admitted that he did not order an annual survey and regular voltage readings for a pipeline that transports jet fuel at Wisconsin’s largest airport. He also admitted lying to the federal pipeline agency by saying that the required tests had been conducted.
Jones worked for the Shell Pipeline Company, which reported that 9,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked at Mitchell Airport in January of 2012. A hole was found in the pipeline, after jet fuel was spotted in airport soil and a nearby creek.
It cost over $19 million to respond to the incident and clean it up.
Jones worked for Shell for 20 years, ending in 2012. He’s scheduled to be sentenced April 30th.
(Story courtesy of Wheeler News Service)
