Carnival Agrees to Fine, Will Plead Guilty to Pollution Charges
December 01 2016 - 12:30PM
Dow Jones News
Carnival Corp.'s Princess Cruise Lines agreed to pay a $40
million penalty and to plead guilty to seven criminal charges
stemming from the cruise company's polluting the seas and efforts
to cover it up.
According to the Justice Department, as part of an agreement
with the U.S. government, cruise ships from eight of Carnival's
cruise lines will be under a court-supervised environmental
monitoring program for five years, which will include independent
audits and a court-appointed monitor.
The charges in the plea agreement related to Carnival's
Caribbean Princess cruise ship and stemmed from an investigation
into an August 2013 illegal discharge of oily waste off the coast
of England.
"The pollution in this case was the result of more than just bad
actors on one ship," stated Assistant Attorney General John C.
Cruden of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural
Resources Division. "It reflects very poorly on Princess's culture
and management."
In a separate statement, Princess Cruises stated it was
extremely disappointed with the "inexcusable actions" of its
employees who violated company policies and environmental law by
bypassing its bilge water treatment system and discharging
untreated bilge water into the ocean.
In a press release on Thursday, the Justice Department said the
Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges of bilge
water since 2005 using a number of methods over the years.
Princess said an internal investigation also revealed practices
on some of its other ships that didn't comply with its policies and
violated environmental law. The cruise line also said that over the
past three years it has put a number of corrective measures into
place and has restructured its fleet operations, including the
hiring of new leadership.
Write to Tess Stynes at tess.stynes@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
December 01, 2016 12:15 ET (17:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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