Japanese Company Pleads Guilty to Illegal Dumping
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).
Settlement Announced in GRUMANT Investigation
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.
Engineer Pleads Guilty to Pollution Charge
Duk Jo Jeong, a first assistant engineer of a Toyota car carrier ship, pled guilty to making a false statement to the United States Coast Guard concerning the disposal of waste oil aboard the Cygnus. The Cygnus car carrier ship which transported automobiles between Japan and the United States. Jeong was immediately sentenced to two years of probation by Judge Garr M. King; he will then be deported to Korea. Judge King noted that Jeong, a Korean national, had already been involuntarily detained in Portland for six months during the pendency of his case. As First Assistant Engineer of the Cygnus, Jeong was responsible for overseeing all of the operations of the engine room, including the disposal of waste oil.
