Former Shell employee ordered to pay $19.4M for fuel leak at Mitchell International Airport

MILWAUKEE (WITI) -- 44-year-old Randy Jones of Houma, Louisiana, a former corrosion coordinator for Shell Pipeline Company was sentenced in federal court Thursday, April 30th to five years of probation and ordered to pay $19,377,785 in restitution.

Previously, Jones pleaded guilty to knowingly failing to conduct required safety test between January and December 2011 and submitting the false data to the Pipeline and Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA).

Jones’ violations were connected to a pipeline owned by Shell that delivered commercial aviation jet fuel to General Mitchell International Airport in Milwaukee.

In January 2012, a hole was discovered in the pipeline at Mitchell Airport after jet fuel began showing up in the soil surrounding the airport and Wilson Creek. Approximately 9,000 gallons of jet fuel was released from the pipeline.