The Department of Justice announced on Thursday that the cruise ship company pleaded guilty to dumping illegal waste off the coast of England three years ago and trying to cover it up by lying to the U.S. Coast Guard.
According to The Hill, the DOJ say the $40 million fine is the “largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.”
The California-based cruise company, as part of a plea agreement, also agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges of illegal practices involving five of their ships, dating back eight years, and in one case, to 2005. In a statement, the DOJ says the company was dumping contaminated waste and oil from its Caribbean Princess ship until the practice was exposed by a whistle-blowing engineer in 2013.
The Magic Pipe
The engineer quit his job when the ship docked in the UK and immediately went to the British authorities who in turn, notified the U.S. Coast Guard. He alleged the ship’s other engineers were using a “magic pipe” to bypass the ship’s water treatment system to unload oily waste directly into the sea.
According to the DOJ, the other engineers tried to hide the evidence of the “magic pipe” from British authorities before they boarded the ship. The DOJ statement read: “The chief engineer and senior first engineer ordered a cover-up, including removal of the magic pipe and directing subordinates to lie.”
Suggesting the cover-up was an attempt to cut costs, the DOJ went on to say: “The chief engineer that ordered the dumping off the coast of England told subordinate engineers that it cost too much to properly offload the waste in ports and that the shore-side superintendent who he reported to would not want to pay the expense.”
Illegal waste water practices were discovered on four other Princess ships and it is likely some discharges also took place in U.S. waters. Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden said, “It reflects very poorly on Princess’s culture and management.”
Princess Cruises is a subsidiary of Miami-based Carnival Cruises. NPR is reporting that the plea agreement requires ships from eight of Carnival’s companies to submit to supervised monitoring of environmental compliance for the next five years.
We should be very concerned about this practice and the fact that it went on for such an extended period of time. With the opening of the Arctic to cruise ship travel, it is even more important that environmental standards be maintained, even if it is necessary to increase inspections and surveillance of how cruise ships are handling waste water.
