Cruise Line Ordered to Pay $3-Million Fine
A federal judge fined Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. $3 million Monday for altering log books to conceal the dumping of oil sludge in the Pacific Ocean.
The fine is part of a nationwide, $18-million settlement Royal Caribbean reached with the Justice Department in July after it pleaded guilty to criminal charges in Los Angeles, Alaska, New York, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Miami and San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Under the deal, $1 million of the Los Angeles fine will be split between the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Park Foundation for environmental protection programs.
Royal Caribbean, a Liberian corporation with headquarters in Miami, was indicted in Los Angeles for presenting false records to Coast Guard officers conducting routine inspections on the cruise ship Nordic Prince, which berthed in the Port of Los Angeles three times in 1994.
Under the federal Clean Water Act, large ships like the Nordic Prince are required to maintain records documenting the proper handling and disposal of oil and of oil-contaminated water generated on the vessels.
According to the government, the company routinely dumped waste oil and other chemicals from its fleet into oceans and seas, including the environmentally sensitive Inside Passage of Alaska.
In 1998, the company pleaded guilty to illegal dumping charges in Miami and San Juan and paid a $9-million fine.
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