Us Department Of Justice Environmental Crimes Section News

Fishing Vessel Owner and Operator Plead Guilty and Fined $1 Million for Discharging Oily Waste into the Coastal Waters of the United States Sea Harvest Inc., operator of the fishing vessels Enterprise and Pacific Capes, along with Fishing Vessel Enterprises Inc., the vessels’ owner, pleaded guilty today to violating the Clean Water Act for both knowing and negligent discharges of oily bilge water from the vessels’ engine rooms. The companies were sentenced to pay a $1 million criminal fine and serve a five-year term of probation.

A jury in Houston federal court cleared Greek maritime officer Ioannis Mylonakis of charges that he engineered the dumping of oil tanker waste off of the Texas coast in early 2009, according to the Berg & Androphy law firm. The jury rejected claims by U.S. Department of Justice Environmental Crimes Section that Mylonakis, as chief engineer of the 40,000-ton M/T Georgios M, ordered his crew to use a so-called "magic pipe" to bypass pollution control equipment and discharge sludge and oily waste into the seas near Houston and Corpus Christi, Texas. Mylonakis is represented by lead attorneys Joel Androphy and Kathryn Nelson, of Berg & Androphy, of Houston, and assisted by George M. Chalos and George A. Gaitas, of the Chalos & Co., P.C., of New York.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced that OMI Corporation pleaded guilty to preparing false documents in an effort to cover up the illegal dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil and sludge at sea. OMI also agreed to pay a $4.2 million fine and serve three years probation. U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden accepted the guilty plea. Sentencing has been scheduled for May 3. A ship captain and chief engineer previously pled guilty in connection with the case. The ship involved in the case, the Motor Tanker Guadalupe, owned and operated by wholly owned subsidiaries of OMI Corporation, made port calls in the U.S., Europe, the Caribbean and Latin America.

The chief engineer of an oil tanker that transports petroleum products to and from various ports in the United States and abroad pleaded guilty today to submitting false documents to the U.S. Coast Guard in an effort to cover up the illegal dumping of thousands of gallons of waste oil and sludge at sea, U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie announced. The captain of the vessel also pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Katharine S. Hayden to conspiracy in connection with his effort to conceal evidence and solicit false statements from a lower-level engineer during the Coast Guard boarding of the ship in the Port of Carteret on Sept. 10, Christie said.

Karin J. Immergut, United States Attorney for the District of Oregon, Debra W. Yang, United States Attorney for the Central District of California, Donald P. Sims, Special Agent in Charge of the Portland Area Office, Criminal Investigation Division of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA-CID), United States Coast Guard Rear Admiral Jeffrey Garrett, Commander 13th Coast Guard District, and United States Coast Guard Captain Paul Jewell, Captain of the Port, Portland, announced today that Fujitrans Corporation, a Japanese transportation company, pled guilty to four felony charges for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, Title 33, United States Code, Section 1908(a) and Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, Sections 151.25(a), (d) and (h).

Patrick K. Brown, a former Chief Engineer of the M/V Fidelio was arraigned today on a six count indictment related to deliberate vessel pollution that was originally returned by a federal grand jury on July 26, 2007. The indictment was announced by Ronald J. Tenpas, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment & Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. According to the indictment, Brown was a U.S. licensed Chief Engineer and was responsible for managing and supervising the engine department, including compliance with laws regulating the discharge of oil from the ship.

Three companies that own and operate an oceangoing chemical tanker named the M/T Clipper Trojan were indicted in connection with an attempt by crew members to cover up the illegal dumping of oily waste in international waters, the Justice Department announced. The 11-count indictment named Clipper Wonsild Tankers Holding A/S and Clipper Marine Services A/S, both of which are Danish companies that operate and manage the M/T Clipper Trojan, and Trojan Shipping Co. Ltd., a Bahamas company that is the registered owner of the M/T Clipper Trojan, as defendants. All three companies are part of The Clipper Group A/S, a global shipping consortium based in Denmark.

American-based ship operator, Pacific-Gulf Marine, Inc. deliberate acts of pollution involving a fleet of four ships, in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson sentenced PGM to pay a $1 million criminal fine, $500,000 for community service and serve three years of probation under the terms of a rigorous Environmental Compliance Program (ECP), which is subject to court approval. oil-contaminated bilge waste without the use of an oily water separator, a required pollution prevention device. Instead, the ships used secret bypass pipes, sometimes referred to as a "magic pipe," to circumvent the oily water separator.

The Chief Engineer of a Panamanian registered container ship was sentenced today in federal court to charges of conspiracy, obstruction, destruction of evidence, false statements and violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships in connection with the use of a secretly concealed "magic pipe" used to deliberately discharge tons of sludge and oil contaminated waste overboard. Michael J. Sullivan, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts; Sue Ellen Wooldridge, Assistant Attorney General of the Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division; Rear Admiral David P. Pekoske, Commander, First Coast Guard District; and William Schenkelberg, Special Agent in Charge of the Northeast Region of the U.S.

United States Attorney Michael Mosman announced today the settlement of a criminal investigation into illegal ocean pollution by the cargo ship M/V GRUMANT. Under the settlement, the operators of the GRUMANT will plead guilty to a single felony count for violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution From Ships, a federal law that implements an international treaty forbidding oil pollution of the oceans by commercial ships. Grid Odessa, Ltd., of Odessa, Ukraine, will pay a fine of $275,000 and be placed on probation. Large commercial ships use a heavy fuel oil that must be treated on board ship to remove impurities and water before it can be burned in the ship’s engine. This process creates substantial amounts of oily waste.