Tag: Puerto Rico

For Intentional Cover-Up of Oil Pollution Epps Shipping Company, a Liberian corporation doing business out of Carolina, Puerto Rico, was sentenced in federal court for violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) and making false statements to U.S. Coast Guard inspectors, announced Assistant Attorney General Ignacia S. Moreno and United States Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez-Velez.The company was sentenced to pay a $700,000 criminal penalty to include a $100,000 payment towards community service projects to rehabilitate and protect coral reefs in Guanica Bay, Puerto Rico. In addition, the company was placed on five years of supervised probation and will have to implement a comprehensive Environmental Compliance Plan to continuously monitor and evaluate pollution prevention from any ship it owns or operates."This sentence puts the international shipping industry on notice that there are serious consequences for violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships and making false statements to the United States Coast Guard," said Ignacia S. Moreno, Assistant Attorney General of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "For its criminal violations of the law, Epps will pay a significant criminal penalty, serve five years of probation, institute an environmental compliance plan designed to prevent further violations, ...

Coast Guard continues clean up Coast Guard pollution response teamscontinuecleanup efforts and pollution assessments of Luquillo Beach Tuesday, after receiving a report that oily tar balls had been located on the shoreline.Coast Guard pollutions responders expect to conclude cleanup and recovery efforts to collect oilytar balls on Luquillo BeachTuesday, after shoreline and offshorecleanupassesmentsby pollution investigatorsaboard CoastGuardMH-65 Dolphin helicopters and surface unitsrevealed no additional findings of further contamination in the water.Coast Guard pollution responders will continue to monitorfor any additional signs of pollutionand are prepared to respond and mitigate any potential future environmental impacts in the area."We are working with local and federal partners as well as specialized oil recovery contractors to clean the tar balls from Luquillo Beach," said Capt. Eduardo Pino, Sector San Juan commander. "The Coast Guard has accessed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund to immediately execute oil and pollution clean-up efforts to mitigate any environmental hazards associated with the contamination."Coast Guard Watchstanders in Sector San Juan initially received notification of the oily tar ball report at approximately 3:30p.m. Monday from Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources personnel in Luquillo.The Coast Guard immediately accessed the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSTLF) to initiate pollution cleanup ...