Carnival To Cough Up $18M For Pollution Charges

Adding to the ongoing saga of environmental faults in within the cruise industry, as first displayed by Royal Caribbean in the 1990's, Carnival Corp. fell victim today to this continual problem, when the multi-million dollar company guilty to ocean pollution charges brought by the U.S. government.

The Miami-based company, which operates 43 cruise ships, for lines such as Cunard and Holland admitted, in U.S. District Court in Miami, to six counts of falsifying records on oil-contaminated discharges, according to a company spokesman. The line has agreed to pay $18 million in fines and penalties for its actions.

It was decided that Carnival will agree to pay $9 million in fines and spend $9 million on environmental projects, hire pollution watchdogs for five years on its ships and land facilities, and well as hiring an executive-level environmental-standards officer, the spokesman said.