4.00pm
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A consortium of Korean shipping companies has admitted that its freighters sailing between Alaska and Asia illegally dumped oily waste at sea for years and will pay a US$5 million ($10.8 million) fine, US federal officials said today.
The sister companies, which operate about a dozen ships
that carry frozen seafood from Alaska, have pleaded guilty to environmental and conspiracy charges, officials said.
Top company officials were also indicted on charges related to the dumping, said Tim Burgess, US Attorney for Alaska.
"As this investigation shows, crimes against the environment are serious, and if you are caught there are serious consequences," Burgess said at a news conference where the plea agreements and indictments were unveiled.
The ships operated by the Korean companies routinely used hoses to bypass oil-water separators that are mandated by international environmental law, federal officials said.
Using the bypass hoses, the ships dumped their oily bilge water and oil sludge directly into the sea instead of treating waste water and properly disposing of waste oil at shore. It was a regular practice that dated back to 1995, prosecutors said, and resulted in tens of thousands of gallons of oily waste being dumped each year by the cargo fleet.
Pleading guilty to the charges were four related companies -- Boyang Ltd, Oswego Ltd, Boyang Maritime Kyeong Shin Deep Sea Fisheries Co Ltd and Trans-Ports International Inc.
Those indicted included a man who is Boyang Maritime's general manager and a major shareholder and board member. Also indicted were two other managers, a ship captain and a chief engineer. The indictments, issued by a federal grand jury on Wednesday, charge conspiracy, obstruction of justice, witness tampering, lying to investigators and making false statements.
Already, one captain and two chief engineers from ships in the companies' fleet have pleaded guilty to criminal charges and been sentenced to prison terms of four to eight months. Their testimony, provided as a result of plea bargains, was used in the wider probe.
The investigation was launched after a routine inspection in February by the Coast Guard in the Aleutian Island port of Dutch Harbour.
Company officials instructed crew members to falsify records and to lie to government investigators, especially after a grand jury investigation was started, Burgess said.
The plea agreement calls for the companies to pay the $5 million fine, of which $1 million will be earmarked for use to benefit the Alaska Maritime National Wildlife Refuge, the sprawling chain of western Alaska coastal land and islands bordering the waters where the dumping occurred.
It also calls for the companies to spend an additional $500,000 to set up a court-monitored environmental compliance plan, and puts the companies on probation for five years.
One of the defendants' attorneys said the companies are serious about righting their past practices.
"The companies are, at this point, cooperating totally with the government and trying to work with the government to correct the issue," said Bill Bryson, attorney for Trans-Ports International, a Seattle-based subsidiary of Seoul-based Boyang Ltd. Sentencing is scheduled for late October, Bryson said.
- REUTERS
nzherald.co.nz/environment
4.00pm
ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A consortium of Korean shipping companies has admitted that its freighters sailing between Alaska and Asia illegally dumped oily waste at sea for years and will pay a US$5 million ($10.8 million) fine, US federal officials said today.
The sister companies, which operate about a dozen ships
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