Trucking firm, owner convicted in connection with fire

Woody’s Trucking illegally transported hazardous materials; Donald Wood tried to cover it up.    A Montana trucking company and its owner have been convicted of the illegal transportation of hazardous materials, mail and wire fraud and obstruction of justice.
   Donald E. Wood Jr. and Woody’s Trucking LLC, of Baker, Mont., were convicted May 22 following a jury trial in U.S. District Court in Billings.
   The charges stemmed from an explosion at an oil and gas processing facility in Wibaux, Mont.
    According to the U.S. Department of Transportation Office of Inspector General, on Dec. 29, 2012, a driver for Woody’s Trucking transported natural gas condensate — drip gas — from a processing facility in Watford City, N.D., to Custom Carbon Processing Inc., a slop-oil processing/recycling company near Wibaux. The bill of lading that accompanied the shipment identified the product as “slop oil and water,” a nonhazardous substance. However, while the driver was pumping the product from the truck’s front tank into the CCP facility, a fire ignited. 
   The tanks on the truck burned for eight days, until the local fire department determined that they held drip gas and not slop oil and water, as indicated on the bill of lading. Drip gas is a hazardous material, and the truck was not placarded to indicate it held a flammable liquid. Three CCP employees were seriously injured in the explosion.
   Following the explosion, Wood, the CEO of the company, directed the driver to place a falsified bill of lading in the burned-out truck to cover up the fact that the company was hauling drip gas without placards, according to the Office of Inspector General. Furthermore, the company did not have insurance coverage for hauling drip gas.
   In a civil action, the injured employees sued Woody’s Trucking, CCP’s owners and others for negligence. Woody’s submitted the lawsuit to its insurance company for payment of costs, attorney fees and settlements to the injured workers. The insurance company agreed to settle the claims, but maintained that Woody’s Trucking did not have coverage for hauling drip gas.