Marine Polluter to pay $70K Fine

A Nova Scotia provincial court judge has recently ordered the jackup Oil Rig Rowan Gorilla VI to pay a $70,000 penalty for illegally discharging a pollutant in Canadian waters.

On March 19, 2006, the Rowan Gorilla VI, a USA-registered self-elevating drilling unit that was docked at the Port of Mulgrave, in Nova Scotia, spilled between 5,000 and 6,000 litres of marine diesel fuel while transferring the fuel from a supply vessel.

As a result of the investigation carried out by Transport Canada, charges under the Pollution Prevention Regulations of the Canada Shipping Act, were laid against the vessel in Nova Scotia provincial court. The vessel pleaded guilty to the charge of illegal discharge of a pollutant in provincial court in Port Hawkesbury, NS and was subsequently fined $70,000 -- $35,000 to the Court, and $35,000 to the Environmental Damages Fund.

Transport Canada is committed to ensuring environmentally responsible commercial marine operations and to prosecuting marine polluters whenever there is sufficient evidence. Penalties imposed by the courts act as a deterrent for any would-be polluter. The department continues to work in close cooperation with other federal agencies, such as Fisheries and Oceans, Canadian Coast Guard, Environment Canada, the Department of National Defence and Justice Canada, as well as with other national and international partners in order to eliminate ship-source marine pollution in Canadian waters.