Austin Master CEO avoids jail with $25K bond payment
MARTINS FERRY — Austin Master Services LLC and Brad J. Domitrovitsch, CEO of its parent company, appealed a ruling that held them in contempt of court and paid $25,000 to keep Domitrovitsch out of jail — at least for the time being.
A notice of appeal was filed June 20 with Ohio’s 7th District Court of Appeals in Youngstown. Domitrovitsch, Austin Master and its parent company, American Environmental Partners Inc., are appealing a May 21 ruling by Belmont County Common Pleas Judge John Vavra that found them in contempt of court for failing to remove enough oilfield waste products from the AMS facility in Martins Ferry to bring it into compliance with its operating permit by a court-ordered April 17 deadline. Vavra in May set a new July 22 deadline to bring the facility into compliance; otherwise, Austin Master would face a daily $200 fine beginning May 21 and Domitrovitsch would be sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Following a status conference by phone on July 16, Vavra made a special entry stating that the fine and jail sentence would be stayed if the defendants posted an additional $1.2 million bond by July 29.
Vavra on Tuesday said he set the bond at $1.2 million because an expert witness testified that was the amount that would be needed to bring the facility into compliance with its permit.
He noted that it is expected to cost “several more millions” of dollars to completely clean the facility.
Austin Master had posted a nearly $500,000 bond with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources several years ago when it received its initial operating permit. That bond has been seized by the ODNR Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management to begin funding cleanup of the site, which had essentially been abandoned since March.
That is when Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed a complaint against the company in Vavra’s court, asking the judge to halt its operations and order the facility cleaned up. ODNR inspections had revealed that while the company was permitted to store up to 600 tons of waste from gas and oil fracking operations, it had collected more than 10,000 tons, some of which is radioactive. The material is being held inside the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel mill in the 4K Industrial Park along First Street in Martins Ferry. That location is in close proximity to the Ohio River and to Martins Ferry’s drinking water well field and nearly flooded when the river exceeded its banks in early April.
In filing the appeal, the defendants also sought to have the period to purge their contempt extended or to have the $1.2 million bond reduced. Attorneys for the defendants have maintained that neither Austin Master nor Domitrovitsch have the financial resources to perform the cleanup or pay the fines and bonds. Vavra said they failed to prove that; however, last week they did file some financial documents such as bank statements to support their claims, Vavra noted.
Upon reviewing the financial documents, Vavra reduced the bond amount to $25,000 — a sum that they indicated could be paid in order to stay the jail sentence while the appeals court considers the case.
A journal entry in court records states that the reduced bond amount was paid.
“The Clerk informs that at about 11:00 a.m. on July 29, 2024, Defendant Bradley Domitrovitsch hand delivered a Treasurer’s Check in the amount of $25,000.00, drawn by Washington Financial,” the entry states. “Thus, he has posted the Ordered bond amount such that the contempt proceedings are stayed pending the result of the appeal process.”
Vavra stressed that only the contempt ruling is being appealed. Other aspects of the case can continue through the common pleas court without interruption. If it is found that it is possible for Austin Master and Domitrovitsch to fund the cleanup or pay the $1.2 million bond, that amount would be reinstated.
Karina Cheung, media and outreach specialist for ODNR, declined to comment on the appeal or the reduction of the bond amount.
“While ODNR does not comment on pending litigation, we remain committed to cleaning up the Austin Master Services facility,” she wrote in an email Tuesday.
On July 23, the Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management entered the plant and allowed several contractors to view the situation inside. The contractors were invited to bid on completing the cleanup. One contractor already working under an agreement with the state has been on site beginning preliminary work such as moving inoperable equipment that was blocking access to the waste pile.