05/11/2010 // West Palm Beach, FL, USA // Tara Monks // Tara Monks
Atlantic City, NJ – Three shipping companies have been fined by the federal government for the illegal dumping of wastes. Their fines will finance ocean or shoreline projects in New Jersey, as reported by the Philadelphia Enquirer. The U.S. Attorney’s Office and the Coast Guard announced the plans Monday, May 10, 2010.
The fines reach over $1.5 million and are set to finance 19 projects.
Clipper Marine Services of Denmark, Holy House Shipping AB of Sweden and Dalnave Navigation Inc. of Liberia are the three shippers who were charged and pleaded guilty to violating the federal law against intentionally discharging oil, sludge and bilge oil into the ocean.
The law stems from The International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships, which was enacted in 1973. There was a secondary protocol relating to the Convention that was enacted in 1978. The treaties were established to prevent pollution by oil, chemicals, and other harmful substances in packaged form, sewage and garbage.
The fines will be used to remove 170 tons of marine trash, remove rotting piers, restore wetlands and conserve bird, fish and shell populations.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman told reporters, ”The intentional discharge of oil from vessels releases millions of gallons of oil into navigable waters…It is particularly gratifying to be a part of a process that takes money from those who knowingly damage the environment and gives it to those who work to heal it.”
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