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Illegal ocean dumping costs Egyptian shipper $7.25 million
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By William McCall, Associated Press Writer
Wednesday, April 30, 2008 | No comments posted.
PORTLAND — An Egyptian shipping company has paid a $7.25 million fine after it was convicted of federal felony charges for dumping waste oil at sea.
National Navigation Co. pleaded guilty to 15 counts of violating pollution laws in Oregon, Washington and Louisiana, and trying to cover it up.
The company also agreed to a plan to audit its ships for environmental compliance and a court-appointed monitor to track its operations.
The fine could have been higher if National Navigation managers had not immediately admitted the violations.
Based in Cairo, the largest international shipping company in Egypt did not dispute most of the evidence but blamed the violations on some chief engineers.
“We were deceived by some of our chief engineers,” said Capt. Hassan El-Sherbiny, the general manager of marine and technical affairs for the company.
Sherbiny also told U.S. District Judge Garr King during the company’s sentencing on Tuesday that National Navigation is “a good and reputable company” that is “keen to comply” with environmental regulations.
King said he appreciated the cooperation and “immediate action” of company managers but warned them “this is a crime that is taken very seriously in this jurisdiction.”
National Navigation also was placed on probation for four years as King cautioned “you will be monitored very carefully.”
The record fine resulted from a routine Coast Guard inspection in November 2007 that found oil sludge in a valve that should carry only clean water aboard the bulk cargo vessel M/V Wadi Al Arish, part of the National Navigation fleet.
According to logbooks, the crew had incinerated the sludge, but inspectors found the ship’s incinerator had not been used. Identical log entries showed the crew transferred exactly the same amounts of gooey oil sludge to an incinerator the same way time after time.
A Coast Guard investigation revealed the ship had been illegally dumping waste oil into the ocean since at least 1999.
Scott West, special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional criminal investigative division, said illegal dumping by merchant fleets across the world may be so widespread that over time it exceeds the volume of big oil spills like the Exxon Valdez wreck.
At a news conference, West joined U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski to praise the Coast Guard and others for their teamwork.
Immergut said the conviction and settlement are part of her effort to “make polluters pay” by cracking down on environmental crime.
The fine was the largest ever assessed in the Pacific Northwest for a dumping violation, she said.
Kulongoski said a $2.025 million share of the fine will go to the Governor’s Fund for the Environment for wildlife habitat and watershed restoration and protection. The fund is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The governor also praised Immergut for a “proven record of prosecuting environmental crime.”
There were 12 counts filed in Oregon, two in Washington state and one in Louisiana. Each charged resulted from visits by National Navigation vessels to ports in each state. All were felonies.
National Navigation Co. pleaded guilty to 15 counts of violating pollution laws in Oregon, Washington and Louisiana, and trying to cover it up.
The company also agreed to a plan to audit its ships for environmental compliance and a court-appointed monitor to track its operations.
The fine could have been higher if National Navigation managers had not immediately admitted the violations.
Based in Cairo, the largest international shipping company in Egypt did not dispute most of the evidence but blamed the violations on some chief engineers.
“We were deceived by some of our chief engineers,” said Capt. Hassan El-Sherbiny, the general manager of marine and technical affairs for the company.
Sherbiny also told U.S. District Judge Garr King during the company’s sentencing on Tuesday that National Navigation is “a good and reputable company” that is “keen to comply” with environmental regulations.
King said he appreciated the cooperation and “immediate action” of company managers but warned them “this is a crime that is taken very seriously in this jurisdiction.”
National Navigation also was placed on probation for four years as King cautioned “you will be monitored very carefully.”
The record fine resulted from a routine Coast Guard inspection in November 2007 that found oil sludge in a valve that should carry only clean water aboard the bulk cargo vessel M/V Wadi Al Arish, part of the National Navigation fleet.
According to logbooks, the crew had incinerated the sludge, but inspectors found the ship’s incinerator had not been used. Identical log entries showed the crew transferred exactly the same amounts of gooey oil sludge to an incinerator the same way time after time.
A Coast Guard investigation revealed the ship had been illegally dumping waste oil into the ocean since at least 1999.
Scott West, special agent in charge of the Environmental Protection Agency’s regional criminal investigative division, said illegal dumping by merchant fleets across the world may be so widespread that over time it exceeds the volume of big oil spills like the Exxon Valdez wreck.
At a news conference, West joined U.S. Attorney Karin Immergut and Oregon Gov. Ted Kulongoski to praise the Coast Guard and others for their teamwork.
Immergut said the conviction and settlement are part of her effort to “make polluters pay” by cracking down on environmental crime.
The fine was the largest ever assessed in the Pacific Northwest for a dumping violation, she said.
Kulongoski said a $2.025 million share of the fine will go to the Governor’s Fund for the Environment for wildlife habitat and watershed restoration and protection. The fund is administered by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The governor also praised Immergut for a “proven record of prosecuting environmental crime.”
There were 12 counts filed in Oregon, two in Washington state and one in Louisiana. Each charged resulted from visits by National Navigation vessels to ports in each state. All were felonies.
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