NEWARK, N.J.
(AP) — Two international shipping firms have admitted they illegally
dumped waste oil from vessels that docked in New Jersey, Delaware and
California.
The plea agreement was announced Thursday in Newark, N.J., by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.
The German firm Columbia Shipmanagement and Cyprus-based Columbia Shipmanagement Ltd. agreed to pay a combined $10.4 million.
More
than $2 million of the payments the companies make will go to
preservation and protection efforts in shore areas hit by Superstorm
Sandy.
In their guilty pleas, the shipping companies admitted
bypassing required pollution prevention equipment and falsifying logs to
hide their actions.
In one incident last spring, a ship was reported to have dumped five tons of oily waste in the waters off Costa Rica.
Fishman said crew members alerted authorities last year.
Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.
