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Ocean Dumping

This archive displays posts tagged as relevant to unlawful ocean dumping and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. You may also be interested in the following pages:

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May 24, 2022

The owners of the Motor Vessel Joanna, Empire Bulkers Limited and Joanna Maritime Limited, will pay $2 million and plead guilty to violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, admitting to knowingly falsifying the ship’s Oil Record Book to conceal unlawful discharges of oil.  Modifications to the vessel’s oil content monitor had been made so that discharge samples from the oily water separator were diluted with fresh water, thereby leading the oil content monitor to report erroneous concentrations.  DOJ; USAO ED LA

September 23, 2021

Shipping company Diana Wilhelmsen Management Limited was ordered to pay $2 million following its admissions that it violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.  DWM admitted that its vessel, M/V Protefs, unlawfully discharged oily bilge water and knowingly kept a false oil record book.  DOJ; USAO ED LA

Catches of the Week: Contractors Abroad Face Liability for Fraud in U.S. Government Contracts

Posted  02/19/21
fleet of navy ships
This week, we double up on the Catch of the Week, and highlight two actions involving foreign contractors doing business with the U.S. Navy.

French Concrete Contractor Pays $14.5 Million to Resolve Claims of Delivering Substandard Concrete for U.S. Navy Bases in Africa

In the first case, Colas Djibouti, a subsidiary of French contractor Colas, agreed to pay $12.5m to the U.S. government to settle criminal charges,...

February 18, 2021

The owner of the vessel Kota Harum, Pacific International Lines (Private) Limited, and employees Maung Maung Soe and Peng Luo Hai, pleaded guilty to charges under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and Clean Water Act related to the vessel's unlawful discharge of oily bilge water into Apra Harbor, Guam, and the failure to maintain complete and truthful oil record books.  The company will pay a $3 million criminal penalty and defendants are on probation.  DOJ

December 1, 2020

Singapore-based international shipping company Pacific Carriers Limited (PCL) was ordered to pay a fine of $12 million following its guilty plea to charges including its violation of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.  PCL admitted that its ship the M/V Pac Antares discharged oily bilge water, oil waste, oily garbage, and plastic, without using required pollution-prevention equipment or properly recording the discharges in the vessel’s oil record book or garbage record book.  Some oily waste discharges were made through a laundry sink which discharged directly overboard, and inspectors discovered a configuration of drums, flexible hoses and flanges that were used to bypass the vessel’s oily water separator.  In addition, PCL admitted that the ship stored oily waste in the duct keel in a manner that created a hazardous condition subject to reporting.  The problems were reported to Customs and Border Protection by a crewmember who walked off the ship when it arrived in North Carolina.  DOJ

Another “Magic Pipe” Down the Drain: Whistleblower Tips Lead to Guilty Plea in Ocean Dumping Case

Posted  03/19/20
M/T Zao Galaxy from DOJ files
Whistleblowers and an alert Coast Guard examiner exposed the illegal ocean-dumping of unfiltered bilge water by Singapore shipping company Unix Line PTE. The company pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) after a conscientious crew member slipped a note reading “magic pipe” and “damage marine environment” to the  examiner inspecting the ship M/T Zao Galaxy.  Another crew...

Recent APPS Case Shows Importance of Whistleblowers

Posted  03/17/20
gCaptain publishes Op-Ed by Jessica Moore, Recent APPS Case Shows Importance of Whistleblowers.  Click here to read more.

Top Ten Environmental Fraud Settlements of 2019

Posted  01/17/20
image of trees
Between Greta Thunberg's "Climate Strike" mass protests, the on-going saga over the Dakota Access Pipeline, the hoopla over plant-based diets, and record temperatures and ice melts – the environment was on everyone's mind in 2019.  Whistleblowers can be eligible for financial rewards for reporting environmental violations in a number of different ways, and our review below features many recoveries – including...

Blowing the Whistle on Environmental Abuse: Investigation of Kanto Kosan for Wastewater Dumping at Naval Bases in Japan

Posted  12/6/19
fleet of navy ships
Earlier this week, the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, the U.S. Navy’s law enforcement arm, announced that it was investigating contractor Kanto Kosan for allegedly dumping wastewater from warships at harbors in Navy bases in Japan. The investigation was triggered by a tip submitted to Japanese Customs. The FBI and Department of Justice have also joined the investigation. According to the Wall Street...

September 5, 2019

Italian shipping company d'Amico Shipping Italia S.p.A. will pay $4 million following a guilty plea on charges that violated the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by deliberately concealing that crew on its oil tanker the M/T Cielo di Milano intentionally bypassed pollution prevention equipment and discharged bilge water and oily waste from the vessel’s engine room through its sewage system into the sea while the ship was in U.S. waters.  The defendant falsified the vessel's Oil Record Book, made false statements to the Coast Guard during inspection, and destroyed the vessel's sounding log.  USAO NJ
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