Evergreen International pays $25 million for dumping oil illegally

[realFedUp]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pollute5apr05,1,6420310.story?coll=la-headlines-california&ctrack=1&cset=true

Shipping Line Admits to Dumping Waste Oil
Evergreen International pleads guilty to charges in five states and agrees to pay $25 million.
By Deborah Schoch
Times Staff Writer

April 5, 2005

One of the world's largest shipping lines pleaded guilty in Los Angeles on Monday to secretly dumping waste oil from its massive container ships and agreed to pay $25 million, which U.S. officials called the largest fine ever in a federal case involving deliberate pollution from ships.

The plea follows a four-year, five-state criminal probe of shipping giant Evergreen International, which federal attorneys claim sought to save time and money by routinely dumping waste oil into the ocean instead of taking it to shore for disposal.

Under U.S. and international law, ships cannot dump their used oil at sea. Instead, they must send it through a device that separates the oil from water that may be dumped at sea.

But investigators found that at least seven Evergreen ships were equipped with special "magic pipes" that bypassed the separator and sent waste oil into the ocean, U.S. officials said Monday.

Evergreen spokeswoman Barbara Spector Yeninas said Monday that the charges dated from 1998 through 2001, and that the company has not been notified of any violations since then.

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[Squeech]

1. Hmmm...

I wonder if anything happened in 2001 that might impede investigators' ability to detect further violations...

Oh, silly me, of course Evergreen decided they'd do the right thing since then! :sarcasm:

On edit: can't type today :P

[realFedUp]

2. I like your little sarcasm thingy

I'll have to start using that...frequently.