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Serial Polluter Fined $4 Million for Covering Up Deliberate Discharge of Oil and Plastics

Published Jan 11, 2011 2:59 PM by The Maritime Executive

$750,000 of Penalty to Fund Projects Benefitting Chesapeake Bay

BALTIMORE - U.S. District Judge J. Frederick Motz sentenced Irika Shipping S.A., a ship management corporation registered in Panama and doing business in Greece, today to pay a $4 million penalty, which includes a $3 million criminal fine and $1 million in organizational community service payments that will fund various marine environmental projects. Judge Motz also sentenced Irika to serve the maximum of five years probation, subject to following a compliance program that includes audits by an independent firm and oversight by a court appointed monitor.

Judge Motz further ordered today that four crew members that notified authorities about illegal discharges of oil and plastic from the M/V Iorana, a Greek flagged cargo ship, should be awarded $125,000 each under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships which provides that whistleblowers may receive an award of up to one-half of fines collected under that statute.

Irika Shipping pleaded guilty on July 8, 2010, as part of a multi-district plea agreement arising out of charges brought in the District of Maryland, Western District of Washington and Eastern District of Louisiana, including felony violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships, related to port calls in Baltimore; Tacoma, Wash.; and New Orleans by the M/V Iorana, and obstruction of justice charges based upon false statements to the Coast Guard, destruction of evidence and other acts of concealment.

In Maryland, $750,000 of the criminal penalty will go to the congressionally established National Fish & Wildlife Foundation and be used for Chesapeake Bay projects. In Washington, $125,000 will go to environmental projects in and around the waters of Puget Sound and the Straits of Juan De Fuca. In Louisiana, $125,000 will go toward funding habitat conservation, protection, restoration, and management projects to benefit fish and wildlife resources and habitats.

According to court documents, the investigation into the M/V Iorana was launched in January 2010 after a crew member passed a note to the Customs and Border Protection inspector upon the ship’s arrival in Baltimore alleging that the ship’s chief engineer had directed the dumping of waste oil overboard through a bypass hose that circumvented pollution prevention equipment required by law. The whistleblower’s note stated: "We are asking help to any authorities concerned about this, because we must protect our environment and our marine lives."

"Deliberate pollution and obstruction of justice are serious crimes that will be vigorously prosecuted," said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General, Environment & Natural Resources, U.S. Department of Justice. "This company will now have significant oversight from outside auditors to make sure that it comes into full compliance."

"Irika Shipping blatantly violated the law by dumping oil in the ocean and then lying to the Coast Guard about it, completely ignoring the terms of its agreement following a previous prosecution for the same conduct" said Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland. "As part of the punishment for this crime, Irika Shipping will pay a fine of $4 million, including $750,000 to be used directly to help protect the Chesapeake Bay, and Irika will remain under court supervision for five years."

"The Coast Guard's partnerships with local, state and federal agencies played a vital role in the investigation and prosecution of this case," said Coast Guard Capt. Mark O'Malley, Captain of the Port of Baltimore. "Let this serve as a wake-up call to other companies, or groups that are illegally dumping in our waters. The cost of the penalties and environmental damages far outweigh the cost of compliances."

"EPA is extremely pleased that part of the sentence will be used for projects to enhance the quality of the Chesapeake Bay, North America’s largest and most biologically diverse estuary," said Fred Burnside, Director of EPA's Office of Criminal Enforcement. "EPA recently announced its Chesapeake Bay Compliance and Enforcement Strategy, a multi-state, multi-year strategy which will guide the use of EPA’s compliance and enforcement tools to target sources of pollution impairing the bay and it is appropriate to use fines from vessels that use the seas as dumping grounds to help protect the bay."

During a Coast Guard inspection on Jan. 8, 2010, the Coast Guard obtained photographs taken on the whistleblower crew member’s cell phone showing the use of a 103-foot long "magic hose" to bypass the ship’s oily water separator. The illicit bypass system used to discharge oily waste, including sludge, was routed through the ship’s boiler blow down system where any trace of oil could be expected to be steam cleaned away. The illegal discharges were concealed in a fraudulent oil record book, a required log in which all overboard discharges are to be recorded.

Irika Shipping admitted the following in a detailed joint factual statement:

  • Approximately 23 cubic meters of oil contaminated sludge and bilge waste (approximately 6,000 gallons) were dumped overboard in December 2009 during the voyage from Gibraltar to Baltimore using the magic hose;
     
  • The flanges where the bypass hose was connected were repainted before arriving in port in order to cover up tool marks caused when the bypass hose was connected and disconnected;
     
  • The bypass was used at night, and plastic bags filled with oil soaked rags were dumped overboard at night;
     
  • Additional episodes of illegal discharges took place after the ship’s first voyage in June 2009 and continued through the middle of December 2009;
     
  • Irika Shipping did not have a company budget, a budget for the vessel or a waste management plan. Irika’s crew members received little training regarding the company’s environmental policies;
     
  • Crew members were not informed by the company that it was to have been operating under a court-imposed Environmental Compliance Program; and
     
  • Irika obstructed justice in various ways including: senior ship officers made false statements to the Coast Guard, crew members were told to lie to the Coast Guard, and evidence of illegal dumping was destroyed.

As set forth in the plea agreement, Irika pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Baltimore to two counts of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships for failing to maintain an accurate oil record book and garbage record book; one count of obstruction of the Coast Guard’s inspection; three counts of concealing evidence; one count of making materially false statements; and one count of obstruction of justice. The maximum penalty for each of these felony offenses is $500,000 or up to twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.

In 2007, Irika Shipping was also the operator of the M/V Irika, a ship subject to a similar prosecution in Tacoma, Wash., where the ship’s owner, Irika Maritime S.A., and the ship’s chief engineer were convicted. As part of the sentence in that case, both Irika Maritime and Irika Shipping were required to develop and implement an Environmental Compliance Plan that would apply during a four year period of probation to the entire fleet of vessels managed by Irika Shipping, including the M/V Iorana.

In connection with its 2010 guilty plea, Irika admitted that it hired back the convicted chief engineer from the prior case who committed new violations on the M/V Iorana during the probationary period. A subsequent chief engineer, Triantafyllos Marmaras, was in charge at the time of the January 2010 inspection in Baltimore. Chief Engineer Marmaras pleaded guilty in June 2010, in U.S. District Court in Baltimore, to obstruction of justice charges in a related case.

This prosecution was made possible through the combined efforts of the U.S. Coast Guard Sector Baltimore, the Coast Guard Investigative Service, Coast Guard Fifth District Legal Office, Coast Guard Office of Maritime and International Law, Coast Guard Office of Investigations and Analysis, Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigations Division with assistance from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. The cases were prosecuted by Richard A. Udell, Senior Trial Attorney of the Environmental Crimes Section of the Justice Department; P. Michael Cunningham, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Baltimore; James Oesterle, Assistant U.S. Attorney in Seattle; and Dorothy Manning Taylor, Assistant U.S. Attorney in New Orleans.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Justice