Department Of Justice Environment And Natural Resources Division News

Environmental compliance challenges are nothing new to the cruise industry. Initiatives to enhance environmental compliance, from clean technologies to improved processes and procedures, have significantly reduced the impact cruise vessels have on the environment and improved the quality of discharge. These onboard initiatives address what is in the vessel’s control, but cannot simplify the increasingly complex regulatory environment in which cruise lines operate. Enforcement of environmental regulations is on the rise as international…

Two shipping companies based in Egypt and Singapore will pay $1.9 million in penalties after pleading guilty in federal court to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and obstruction of justice for covering up the illegal dumping of oil-contaminated bilge water and garbage into the sea. Defendants Egyptian Tanker Company and Thome Ship Management are the owner and operator of the offending vessel, the 57,920 gross ton, 809-foot long, oceangoing, oil tank ship called the M/T ETC Mena. The plea agreement was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and Acting U.S. Attorney Brit Featherston for the Eastern District of Texas.

Princess Cruise Lines Ltd. was sentenced to pay a $40 million penalty – the largest-ever for crimes involving deliberate vessel pollution – related to illegal dumping overboard of oil contaminated waste and falsification of official logs in order to conceal the discharges. The sentence was announced by Acting Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey H. Wood for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Acting U.S. Attorney Benjamin G. Greenberg for the Southern District of Florida in Miami. The sentence was imposed by U.S. District Judge Patricia A.

Two Greek shipping companies were sentenced to pay corporate penalties totaling $2.7 million after being convicted for obstructing justice, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), tampering with witnesses and conspiracy. Each company was ordered to pay part of its penalty to Gray’s Reef National Marine Sanctuary in recognition of the threat posed by illegal discharges of oily waste to the marine environment. The case stems from an inspection of the M/V Ocean Hope, a large cargo ship, conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard at the Port of Wilmington, N.C. in July 2015. During that inspection, senior engineers for the companies tried to hide that the vessel had been dumping oily wastes into the ocean for months.

Cassius Samson, 52, and Rustico Ignacio, 66, both of the Philippines, were sentenced today by U.S. District Judge Malcolm Howard for the Eastern District of North Carolina to serve jail time for obstructing a U.S. Coast Guard inspection that took place in July 2015 aboard the cargo ship Ocean Hope at the Port of Wilmington, North Carolina. Samson was sentenced to a term of 12 months in prison followed by a year of supervised release and Ignacio to a term of nine months followed by a year of supervised release. Ignacio was the chief engineer and Samson the second engineer of the Ocean Hope. In September 2016, both were convicted of conspiracy, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, by a federal jury in Greenville, North Carolina.

A senior engineering officer employed by an Italian shipping company was sentenced to eight months in prison for deliberately concealing a vessel’s discharge of oily waste into the sea, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Girolamo Curatolo of Custonaci, Sicily, the chief engineer of an oil tanker, the M/T Cielo di Milano, previously pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to violate the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Judge Wigenton imposed the sentence November 21 in Newark federal court. According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, the vessel, owned by D’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A.

An American tuna fishing company that regularly unloaded its catch in American Samoa, was convicted and sentenced today for discharging oil into the South Pacific and for maintaining false records, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Channing D. Phillips for the District of Columbia. The company, Pacific Breeze Fisheries LLC, owned the Fishing Vessel F/V Pacific Breeze, a tuna purse seiner that was responsible for the pollution. Pacific Breeze Fisheries admitted that its engineers failed to document the illegal dumping of oily bilge water into the waters off American Samoa without the use of required pollution prevention equipment.

Greek shipping companies Oceanic Illsabe Limited and Oceanfleet Shipping Limited, and two of their employees, were convicted of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), obstruction of justice, false statements, witness tampering and conspiracy, according to the US Department of Justice. Oceanic Illsabe Limited is the owner of the M/V Ocean Hope, a large cargo vessel that was responsible for dumping tons of oily waste into the Pacific Ocean last year. Oceanfleet Shipping Limited was the managing operator of the vessel. Both companies operate out of Greece. Also convicted at trial were two senior engineering officers who worked aboard the vessel, Rustico Ignacio and Cassius Samson. The jury convicted on each of the nine counts in the indictment.

Two senior engineering officers employed by an Italian shipping company admitted they deliberately concealed their vessel’s discharge of oily waste into the sea, U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman announced. Girolamo Curatolo, 50, of Custonaci, Sicily, the chief engineer of an oil tanker, the M/T Cielo di Milano, pleaded guilty before U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton in Newark federal court to an information charging him with one count of conspiring to violate the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. Danilo Maimone, 31, of Furci Siculo, Sicily, the ship’s first assistant engineer, pleaded guilty to an information charging him with conspiring to obstruct justice. The vessel, owned by D’Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A.

A federal grand jury in Greenville, North Carolina, has returned a nine-count indictment charging two engineering officers employed by Oceanfleet Shipping Limited with crimes relating to the illegal discharge of oily wastes directly into the sea, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Thomas G. Walker for the Eastern District of North Carolina. Oceanfleet Shipping Limited is a Greek shipping company that operates the cargo carrier M/V Ocean Hope. The two engineering officers indicted are the vessel’s Chief Engineer, Rustico Yabut Ignacio; and Second Engineer, Cassius Flores Samson, bolth of the Philippines.

Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations LLC, Grand Isle Shipyards Inc., Wood Group PSN Inc., as well as Don Moss, 46, of Groves, Texas, Curtis Dantin, 50, of Cut-Off, La., and Christopher Srubar, 40, of Destrehan, La., have been charged with crimes for a November 2012 explosion on an oil production platform that resulted in the death of three workers, the injury of others and an oil spill, announced the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana.

A federal jury in Mobile, Alabama, has convicted Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) and three employees with obstructing justice, violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), witness tampering and conspiracy, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown of the Southern District of Alabama. DSD Shipping is a Norwegian-based shipping company that operates crude oil tankers, including the M/T Stavanger Blossom. Also convicted at trial were three senior engineering officers, Bo Gao, Xiaobing Chen and Xin Zhong, employed by DSD Shipping to work aboard the vessel. A fourth employee, Daniel Paul Dancu, pleaded guilty in October.

Valerii Georgiev, a Russian citizen and former chief mate of the ocean cargo vessel M/V Murcia Carrier, was sentenced to a term of three months prison for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), by the Honorable Joseph Rodriguez, the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced today. APPS requires vessels like the M/V Murcia Carrier to maintain a record known as an oil record book in which all transfers and disposals of oil-contaminated waste, including the discharge overboard of such waste, must be fully and accurately recorded.

Norbulk Shipping UK Ltd, a company based in Glasgow, U.K., and operator of the reefer cargo ship M/V Murcia Carrier, pleaded guilty to failing to maintain an accurate oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and providing false statements to the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) concerning the vessel’s garbage record book. The company was sentenced to pay a criminal penalty of $750,000 and placed on three years of probation by the Honorable Joseph H. Rodriguez, the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey announced today. “Our oceans are life giving and life sustaining resources that our country and our world depend upon,” said Assistant Attorney General John C.

A federal grand jury in Mobile, Alabama, has returned a seven-count indictment charging Det Stavangerske Dampskibsselskab AS (DSD Shipping) and four employees with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), conspiracy, obstruction of justice and witness tampering, announced Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney Kenyen R. Brown for the Southern District of Alabama. DSD Shipping is a Norwegian-based shipping company that operates the oil tanker M/T Stavanger Blossom, a vessel engaged in the international transportation of crude oil.

MTU America Inc., a subsidiary of Rolls-Royce Power Systems AG, will implement an auditing program to ensure proper emissions testing and compliance with federal emission standards for its heavy-duty diesel non-road engines as part of a settlement to resolve alleged Clean Air Act violations, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Justice and announced today. The complaint filed with the settlement alleges that MTU violated the Clean Air Act by selling 895 non-road, heavy-duty diesel engines, which are used in mining, marine and power generation vehicles and equipment, without valid certificates of conformity. EPA voided the certificates of conformity purporting to cover the engines based on improper emissions testing by MTU employees.

U.S. Carbofin S.p.A., an Italian domiciled company that owned and operated the M/T Marigola was sentenced to pay an overall criminal penalty of $2.75 million for knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida. During 2013 and 2014, on numerous international voyages, senior members of the crew of the M/T Marigola directed the installation and use of a so-called “magic hose” to dispose of sludge, waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge water directly into the sea bypassing required pollution prevention equipment.

An Italian shipping firm based in Genoa, Italy, pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by falsifying required ships’ documents to hide the fact that the ship had illegally discharged oil contaminated waste into the ocean on multiple occasions, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Middle District of Florida, and the U.S. Coast Guard. Carbofin S.PA. (Carbofin) agreed to plead…

A chief engineer from the M/V Trident Navigator was convicted by a federal jury in New Orleans late yesterday after a week-long trial, of knowingly falsifying the vessel’s oil record book in violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS), obstruction of justice and witness tampering, announced the Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana. Matthaios Fafalios, 64, a resident of Greece…

Two shipping firms based in Germany and Cyprus were sentenced today in federal court in Newark, N.J., to pay a $10.4 million penalty for felony obstruction of justice charges and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships related to the deliberate concealment of vessel pollution from four ships that visited ports in New Jersey, Delaware and Northern California, the U.S. Attorney’s Offices in New Jersey and Delaware, the U.S. Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division and the U.S. Coast Guard announced. Columbia Shipmanagement (Deutschland) GmbH (CSM-D), a German corporation, and Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd.

STX Pan Ocean Co. Ltd. (STX), headquartered in Seoul, Korea, and the owner of the commercial cargo ship, M/V Ocean Jade, pleaded guilty today to conspiracy as well as falsifying and failing to properly maintain records meant to ensure compliance with maritime pollution laws, the Justice Department announced. The chief engineer of the M/V Ocean Jade, Hong Hak Kang, a Korean citizen, also pleaded guilty today to failing to maintain environmental records and making false statements. STX, which faces five years probation for each of the four counts against it, has agreed to pay a $2m fine, as well as make a $200,000 community service payment to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew J. Department of Justice's Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) before U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson. Coe was employed by Pacific Gulf Marine Inc. including the Fidelio. PGM was sentenced on Jan. plan which will be audited by a court-appointed monitor. on the Fidelio that was part of the ship's original construction. black oil, according to a factual statement filed in court. the existence or use of the bypass although it had been used since 1998. according to papers filed in court. large amounts of waste oil and oil-contaminated bilge waste. International and U.S.

The former chief engineer of an American-flagged car-carrier pleaded guilty today to criminal charges related to the deliberate discharge of oil-contaminated bilge waste through a “magic pipe” that bypassed required pollution prevention equipment, announced Acting Assistant Attorney General Matthew J. McKeown for the Department of Justice’s Environment and Natural Resources Division and U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Rod J. Rosenstein. Frank Coe, the former chief engineer of the M/V Fidelio (renamed the M/V Patriot) pleaded guilty today to conspiracy and violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) before U.S. District Judge William M. Nickerson. Coe was employed by Pacific Gulf Marine Inc.