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6/18/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtny.us
June 18 455 pm EDT
CrimeBox
Clean Water Act Conviction Fiscal Year 1999; Case ID# CR_1001(Alaska)
"Inexcusable." Alaskan Cruise line convicted for deliberately dumping oil, fined $6.5 million
The defendant in this case was the second largest passenger cruise line in the world at the time of its Clean Water Act offences. When US Coast Guard performed the routine inspections of the defendant's vessels Nordic Prince and Sun Viking, entries in the oil log books indicated all was well with the oil separators on board, with collection and disposal of waste oil products indicated as normal.
Inspectors discovered the on-board oil separation equipment was not functioning, aligning with oil spills in 1994 and 1995. An investigation ensued, whereby US EPA Environmental Crimes Division found falsified entries in the oil records.
The cruise line was charged with five separate violations of the Clean Water Act and two counts of fraud for the falsification of the log entries. The communities of Skagway, Haines, Juneau and Ketchikan in southeast Alaska were informed of the oil spill incidents through Town Hall meetings, where they learned that the cruise ships touring their beautiful coast had knowingly released contaminants harmful to fish and wildlife.
U.S. District Judge John Sedwick made comments as he pronounced sentencing. "I find the circumstances of this case truly egregious. What happened is inexcusable. A company this big, with this many resources, should be able to avoid, to weed out the kind of behavior that occurred here."
The federal fine was set at four and a half million dollars, plus restitution payments for the damage: $1 million paid to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and $1 million to the National Park Foundation.
Federal Fines: $4,500,000; Restitution: $2,000,000; Special Assessment Fee $2,800; Probation: 60 months
See last SDWA Legal, "200,000 gallons of oilfield wastewater dumped illegally in Allegheny River watershed ", here.
SDWA CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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