08-10-06 -- Wallenius Ship Management Pte, Ltd. -- News Release
U.S. Attorney's Office Gives $1.65 Million in Shipping Pollution Payments to Fish & Wildlife Foundation to Benefit New Jersey
LYNDHURST, N.J. – U.S. Attorney Christopher J. Christie today presented checks
totaling $1.65 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation in New Jersey – money from court-imposed community service payments levied against two shipping companies that purposefully discharged oil and sludge into U.S. waters.
The largest of the criminal penalties – $1.5 million – was paid by Singapore-based Wallenius Ship Management Pte, Ltd. for purposefully discharging oil in U.S. waters. Another $150,000 comes from another shipping company, Japan-based MK Ship Management, Co., Ltd., for similar conduct aboard one of its ship, for a total $1.65 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF).
All of the $1.65 million will be dedicated to locally based conservation projects in the Hudson-Raritan Estuary Watershed – for example, the New Jersey portion of New York/New Jersey Harbor, the Newark Bay Complex and the Meadowlands, and the New Jersey portion of the Delaware Bay and Estuary. The Foundation will invest the funds over the next three years in projects to restore the health and living resources of these areas.
In May 2005, the U.S. Attorney’s Office directed that $2 million in criminal penalties against the Evergreen International ocean shipping company go for the benefit of the National Park Foundation and NFWF. Evergreen had engaged in similar wanton discharge of oil and sludge in U.S. waters. Those funds went to the benefit of the Sandy Hook Unit of Gateway National Recreation Area and for the federal acquisition of environmentally fragile parklands in Ocean and Cape May counties.
All of the shipping pollution cases were investigated by the U.S. Coast Guard Criminal Investigative Service and the Environmental Protection Agency Criminal Investigations Division. The cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Thomas R. Calcagni in Newark and Department of Justice Trial Attorneys Joseph Poux and Melinda Lawrence.
“I can think of no better way to penalize polluters than to take some of their profits and put them to use here at home in New Jersey,” Christie said. “Hopefully, the benefits of these financial recoveries will eventually outweigh the damage that these commercial vessels cause with wanton, purposeful pollution of our oceans.”
“The two ships owned by these companies had been forging records and using the ocean as a dumping ground for oily-water, and the federal government put a stop to it,” said Alan J. Steinberg, Regional Administrator for the Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2 in New York. “I want to commend the excellent work of U.S. Attorney Chris Christie in pursuing environmental scofflaws and in forming a remedy in this case that not only punishes the environmental offenders, but also benefits groups whose sole mission is to protect the environment.”
“The Coast Guard has expended significant resources and effort over the last several years with one goal: industry compliance with international and domestic regulations to protect the marine environment," said Rear Admiral Tim Sullivan, commander First Coast Guard District. "Aggressive enforcement of these laws and regulations is one method of promoting compliance. The huge fines levied in these and other recent cases should send a clear message to those who value the bottom line over protection of the environment: the cost of circumventing the rules and attempting to cover it up is rising, and the Coast Guard will continue its vigorous enforcement efforts until compliance is achieved. At the same time we welcome working cooperatively with our partners in industry towards alternative methods of improving compliance rates.”
"We are pleased and encouraged that the United States Attorney’s Office has directed these funds to on-the-ground conservation projects in New Jersey,” said Amanda Bassow, NFWF Program Director for the Eastern Region. "The Foundation will work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in using these funds to protect important coastal habitat for New Jersey's fish and wildlife."
“The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is especially appreciative of the effective efforts by the U.S. Attorney's Office and the other federal agencies in conducting this investigation and reaching a settlement agreement that will provide funding to enhance and protect public fish and wildlife resources along New Jersey's coastline,” said USFWS's Northeast Regional Director, Marvin Moriarty
The Wallenius shipping company pleaded guilty in March to seven felony counts, including obstruction of justice, false statements and violating the federal Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships through the use of a so-called “magic pipe” to discharge sludge and oil-contaminated waste overboard from one of its ships, the M/V Atlantic Breeze.
As part of its plea agreement, Wallenius paid a $5 million criminal fine, plus an additional $1.5 million community service payment, which was directed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office to the NFWF for use in New Jersey. The Wallenius sentencing occurred on Aug. 3, when the full amount of $6.5 million was paid to the government.
MK Ship Management, Co., Ltd. paid over its $150,000 community service payment, as well as a $200,000 criminal fine, in January. It chief engineer was sentenced to a year in federal prison for falsifying records concerning the repeated discharge of oil from the ship Magellan Phoenix in Gloucester in 2005.
More On How The Funds Will Be Put To Work
All of the $1.65 million will be used in areas that are served and affected by regional and national shipping interests. The Hudson-Raritan Estuary Watershed hosts the world's busiest commercial port complex. The Delaware Estuary Watershed maintains the world's largest fresh water port. Any investment to restore degraded natural resources and this diverse setting of bays, rivers, mudflats, wetlands and beaches is vital. Pollution from urban and industry sources affects their ability to sustain fish and shellfish and impairs rivers and tributary streams. Population growth is highest on the coast along the urban corridor between Philadelphia and New York City which is experiencing habitat loss and degradation.
In general, the NFWF directs funds to:
1) Encourage innovative, community or locally-based programs or projects that restore important habitats and living resources;
2) Support the restoration and protection of important fish and wildlife habitats;
3) Develop the capacity of local governments, citizens groups, educational, and other organizations to promote community based stewardship;
4) Encourage locally-based projects that improve water quality and protect water resources;
5) Support communities in developing and implementing watershed management plans;
6) Encourage environmentally sensitive development and land-use planning;
7) Increase public access to the Sound;
8) Provide opportunities for direct educational experiences with these areas; and
9) Promote a greater understanding of these areas and the interrelationship between its health and the condition of local watersheds.
The wetlands and uplands along the shorelines are important as fish nursery areas. During peak migration periods, coastal New Jersey is a migratory and wintering stopover for songbirds, birds of prey and shorebirds such as the imperiled red knot, a bird that stops over at these beaches during its 20,000 mile annual round-trip flight from Chile to the Canadian Arctic. The area has the second largest spring concentration of shorebirds in the Western Hemisphere and the world’s largest concentration of horseshoe crabs.
The NFWF is a nonprofit organization established by Congress in 1984 and dedicated to the conservation of fish, wildlife and plants, and the habitat on which they depend. The Foundation creates partnerships between the public and private sectors to strategically invest in conservation and the sustainable use of natural resources.
The Foundation has awarded over 8,000 grants to more than 2,600 organizations in the United States and abroad and has leveraged – with its partners – more than $300 million in federal funds since its establishment, for a total of more than $1 billion in funding for conservation. The Foundation is recognized by Charity Navigator with a 3-star rating for efficiency and effectiveness.
Ninety-two cents of every dollar contributed to the Foundation is directed to on-the-ground conservation projects, with five cents supporting management and administration of the Foundation’s multi-million dollar grants program and three cents funding partnership development and fundraising.
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