Carnival Cruise Lines Hit With $20 Million Penalty For Environmental Crimes

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The cruise line giant Carnival Corporation and its Princess subsidiary have agreed to pay a criminal penalty of $20 million for environmental violations such as dumping plastic waste into the ocean. Princess Cruise Lines has already paid $40 million over other deliberate acts of pollution.

U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz approved the terms of the deal during a hearing Monday in Miami. She had appeared to grow increasingly frustrated as the company continued to flout environmental laws during the course of the years-long case.

"You not only work for employees and shareholders. You are a steward of the environment," she told Carnival CEO Arnold Donald, who attended the hearing with other senior executives. "The environment needs to be a core value, and I hope and pray it becomes your daily anthem."

Miami-based Carnival pleaded guilty Monday to six probation violations, including the dumping of plastic mixed with food waste in Bahamian waters. The company also admitted sending teams to visit ships before the inspections to fix any environmental compliance violations, falsifying training records and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard to try to redefine what would be a "major non-conformity" of their environmental compliance plan.

"I sincerely regret these mistakes. I do take responsibility for the problems we had," Arnold told the judge. "I'm extremely personally disappointed we have them. I am personally committed to achieve best in class for compliance."

Carnival has had a long history of dumping plastic trash and oily discharge from its ships, with violations dating back to 1993.

Environmental groups such as Stand.earth say they are tired of seeing the company hit with penalties "that cannot even be characterized as a slap on the wrist."

"Today's ruling was a betrayal of the public trust and a continuation of the weak enforcement that has allowed Carnival Corporation to continue to profit by selling the environment to its passengers while its cruise ships contribute to the destruction of the fragile ecosystems they visit," Kendra Ulrich, a senior shipping campaigner at Stand.earth, said in a statement.

When Princess was fined the $40 million in 2016, the Department of Justice called it "the largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution." The company also agreed to plead guilty to seven felony charges for violations on five ships starting as early as 2005.

In 2013, a whistleblowing engineer exposed the illegal dumping of contaminated waste and oil from the company's Caribbean Princess ship. He told authorities that engineers were using a special device called the "magic pipe" to bypass the ship's water treatment system and dump oil waste straight into the ocean. The company also tried to cover up this practice from investigators, according to the Justice Department.

At the time, Princess told NPR that it chalked up the violations to "the inexcusable actions of our employees."

Part of the 2016 plea agreement required ships from eight of Carnival's companies to submit to court-supervised monitoring, which is how the most recent violations were discovered.

Judge Seitz had recently threatened to block Carnival from docking at U.S. ports. She also had requested that the company's senior executives attend Monday's hearing because she said she was convinced they weren't serious about complying with environmental laws.

In addition to the $20 million criminal penalty, Carnival has agreed to pay for 15 annual audits — on top of about three dozen ship and shore-side audits it's already on the hook for — and says it will restructure its corporate compliance efforts. If the company does not meet court-imposed deadlines for that restructuring, it will be fined up to $10 million per day. </s> Carnival Cruise is being fined millions (again) for massive pollution cover-up

Turns out, the Love Boat is actually the “Let’s secretly dump our trash in the middle of the ocean” Boat.

Carnival Corporation, the world’s largest cruise line and owner of ten cruise subbrands, was slapped with a $20 million fine earlier this week after it was caught dumping pollutants into the ocean, again.

“You not only work for employees and shareholders. You are a steward of the environment,” U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz told Carnival CEO Arnold Donald. “The environment needs to be a core value, and I hope and pray it becomes your daily anthem.”

The Miami-based cruise line giant has been on probation since 2016, when subsidiary Princess Cruise line was found to have been discharging oily waste into the ocean for eight years and then lying about the scheme. The Department of Justice called the $40 million fine leveraged against the company at the time the “largest-ever criminal penalty involving deliberate vessel pollution.”

But as it turns out, Carnival’s ships have continued to commit a plethora of environmental crimes, such as dumping “gray water” (meaning, wastewater from showers, sinks and kitchens) in Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and food waste mixed with plastic (a severe threat to marine life) in Bahamian waters. According to the court filing, the company, which was valued at over $40 billion in 2018, also tried to hide ongoing violations by sending teams to ships ahead of third-party inspections to create false training records and fix environmental-compliance issues.

“I sincerely regret these mistakes. I do take responsibility for the problems we had,” Arnold told Judge Seitz. “I’m extremely personally disappointed we have them. I am personally committed to achieve best in class for compliance.”

Grist has reached out to Carnival for comment.

Despite the new multimillion-dollar fine, environmental groups were none too pleased by the latest ruling, calling for greater consequences and saying Carnival’s ongoing violations make it clear executives are simply treating their pollution problem as a pesky gnat. “Today’s ruling was a betrayal of the public trust and a continuation of the weak enforcement that has allowed Carnival Corporation to continue to profit by selling the environment to its passengers while its cruise ships contribute to the destruction of the fragile ecosystems they visit,” Kendra Ulrich, a senior shipping campaigner at Stand.earth, said in a statement

While Carnival’s environmental violations are egregious, it’s far from the only cruise company causing environmental harm. According to the International Council on Clean Transportation, cruise lines are bigger contributors to carbon emissions than airplane jets, emitting 3 to 4 times the CO2 per passenger-mile. Cruise ship exhaust can also be a health problem. According to a 2019 report released by the Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health, on-deck air quality can be as bad or worse than some of the world’s most polluted cities. And while some ships have scrubbers to remove harmful chemicals from their exhaust, the New York Times reports that the compounds are then discharged into the ocean — not exactly a win for the environment.

So if you feel the need this summer to sip on a refreshing beverage while overlooking the water, maybe consider doing it poolside? </s> MIAMI – Carnival Corp. reached a settlement Monday with federal prosecutors in which the world’s largest cruise line agreed to pay a $20 million penalty because its ships continued to pollute the oceans despite a previous criminal conviction aimed at curbing similar conduct.

Senior U.S. District Judge Patricia Seitz approved the agreement after Carnival CEO Arnold Donald stood up in open court and admitted the company’s responsibility for probation violations stemming from the previous environmental case.

“The company pleads guilty,” Arnold said six times in a packed courtroom that include other senior Carnival executives, including company chairman and Miami Heat owner Micky Arison.

“We acknowledge the shortcomings. I am here today to formulate a plan to fix them,” Arnold added.

“The proof will be in the pudding, won’t it?” the judge replied. “If you all did not have the environment, you would have nothing to sell.”

Carnival admitted violating terms of probation from a 2016 criminal conviction for discharging oily waste from its Princess Cruise Lines ships and covering it up. Carnival paid a $40 million fine and was put on five years’ probation in that case, which affected all nine of its cruise brands that boast more than 100 ships.

Now Carnival has acknowledged that in the years since its ships have committed environmental crimes such as dumping “gray water” in prohibited places such Alaska’s Glacier Bay National Park and knowingly allowing plastic to be discharged along with food waste in the Bahamas, which poses a severe threat to marine life.

Study: Air pollution on cruise ship decks rivals China and it's worst in these areas

The company also admitted falsifying compliance documents and other administrative violations such as having cleanup teams visit its ships just before scheduled inspections.

Seitz at an earlier hearing threatened to bar Carnival from docking at U.S. ports because of the violations and said she might hold executives individually liable for the probation violations.

“The concern I have is that senior management has no skin in the game,” Seitz said, adding that future violations might be met with prison time and criminal fines for individuals. “My goal is to have the defendant change its behavior.”

Under the settlement, Carnival promised there will be additional audits to check for violations, a restructuring of the company’s compliance and training programs, a better system for reporting environmental violations to state and federal agencies and improved waste management practices.

The agreement also would set Sept. 13 and Oct. 9 deadlines to create an improved compliance plan and make other changes, subject to fines of $1 million per day if those deadlines are not met. If a second round of deadlines are not met, the fines could go up to $10 million a day.

Other proposed changes include a reduction by Carnival in the use of single-use plastic items across its entire fleet and creation of “tiger teams” meant to make improvements in the ships’ food and beverage systems and how waste is handled at sea.

Seitz is retiring later this year and is turning over the case to U.S. District Judge Ursula Ungaro, who jointly presided over Monday’s hearing.

Three people who claimed they were victims of Carnival’s environmental violations attended the hearing. Their attorney, Knoll Lowney, expressed skepticism that Carnival will keep its word this time.

“Time and time again, Carnival has shown its contempt of environmental laws and the rule of law,” he said. “Here we are again.” </s> (CNS): The Carnival Corporation has struck a settlement deal with US federal prosecutors over pollution and environmental law violations. The cruise company, which has made an agreement to part finance the Cayman Islands Government’s proposed controversial cruise berthing facility, has agreed to pay $20 million in a settlement for serious pollution charges. The company’s executives appeared in court Monday and came clean, but environmentalists believe Carnival got off lightly as the world’s biggest cruise line continues to pollute the air and oceans.

United States District Court Judge Patricia Seitz ordered top Carnival Corporation executives, including board chairman Micky Arison and CEO Arnold Donald, to appear in court on Monday, 3 June, for the probation revocation hearing. Donald made admissions in open court to the company’s responsibility for the violations.

“The company pleads guilty,” Arnold said. “We acknowledge the shortcomings. I am here today to formulate a plan to fix them.”

However, Judge Seitz noted pointedly, “The proof will be in the pudding, won’t it? If you all did not have the environment, you would have nothing to sell.”

Carnival has agreed to allow more stringent oversight by the court appointed monitor, create a compliance plan and compliance oversight position in the company. If the company misses agreed deadlines, it will be fined up to $1 million per day and up to $10 million per day if it misses deadlines by ten days.

Carnival has also agreed to reduce its use of single-use plastics by 50% by 2020 and has committed $20 million to improve its food waste management.

The deal comes after one of Carnival’s ship brands, Princess Cruise Lines, pleaded guilty in 2017 to more than a dozen charges relating to vessel pollution, as well as attempts and conspiracy to cover up what it was doing, obstructing justice and failing to maintain accurate records.

A confidential monitor’s report that was published by the judge in April revealed that the cruise line, which docks ships in Cayman waters every week and will be closely involved in the government’s cruise project if it goes ahead, was involved in hundreds of incidents of pollution between April 2017 to April 2018, including illegally dumping sewage, food waste and oil and burning heavy fuel oil in protected areas.

The Caribbean Princess, one of the ships dumping into the ocean, is due here in George Town Harbour on Monday and almost two dozen Carnival ships are expected to call on Cayman this month.

Stand.earth, an environmental activist organisation, said the agreement was “a backroom deal” showing no regard for those impacted by cruise ship pollution.

“Today’s ruling was a betrayal of the public trust and a continuation of the weak enforcement that has allowed Carnival Corporation to continue to profit by selling the environment to its passengers while its cruise ships contribute to the destruction of the fragile ecosystems they visit,” said Kendra Ulrich, senior shipping campaigner from Stand.earth. </s> Carnival Corporation has made a $20 million deal with federal prosecutors as settlement for charges that it violated its probation.

United States District Court Judge Patricia Seitz ordered top Carnival Corporation executives, including board chairman Micky Arison and CEO Arnold Donald, to appear in court on Monday, June 3 for a probation revocation hearing. The U.S. Office of Probation filed a motion for probation violations after the Court Appointed Monitor found cases of Carnival ships continuing to violate environmental laws.

As part of the plan announced on Monday, Carnival will allow more stringent oversight by the Court Appointed Monitor, create an action plan for compliance and create a Chief Compliance Officer position. If the company misses agreed deadlines, it will be fined up to $1 million a day and up to $10 million a day if it misses deadlines by 10 days.

Carnival has also agreed to reduce its use of single-use plastics by 50 percent by 2020 and has committed $20 million to improve its food waste management.

Carnival is on probation as a result of Princess Cruise Lines pleading guilty in 2017 to seven felony counts arising out of vessel pollution from Caribbean Princess and efforts to conceal that pollution, one count of conspiracy, four counts of failure to maintain accurate records and two counts of obstruction of justice.

 

 Seitz published the previously confidential monitor's report in April. In the 205-page report, the monitor records hundreds of incidents from April 2017 to April 2018. The Miami Herald reviewed each incident and found that 24 were for illegally dumping sewage, food waste or oil; 19 were for illegally burning heavy fuel oil in protected areas; and more than 150 were the result of items like furniture accidentally going overboard. Carnival reported the violations to authorities directly or noted them in its internal records.

Stand.earth called the ruling a backroom deal with little regard for the communities and individuals who are impacted by cruise ship pollution. Ahead of the hearing, the organization had supported the filing of on behalf of alleged victims to intervene in the proceeding. The judge presiding over the case allowed the victims’ legal counsel to speak at the hearing but ultimately decided the victims did not have standing under the Crime Victims’ Rights Act.

“Today’s ruling was a betrayal of the public trust and a continuation of the weak enforcement that has allowed Carnival Corporation to continue to profit by selling the environment to its passengers while its cruise ships contribute to the destruction of the fragile ecosystems they visit,” said Kendra Ulrich, Senior Shipping Campaigner at Stand.earth. </s> Santa Clarita-based Princess Cruise Lines and its parent company Carnival Corporation has once again been levied a significant fine, after pleading guilty Monday to six charges of environmental probation violations, such as continuing to pollute the oceans. 



The world’s largest cruise line, which acquired Princess Cruises in 2003, reached a settlement in Miami with the U.S. Department of Justice to pay a $20 million penalty and face enhanced oversight for the remaining three years of its probation, according to a news release by the Department. 



Probation violations stem from a previous criminal conviction in 2016 when Princess Cruises pleaded guilty to dumping oil-contaminated waste from one of its vessels and intentionally covering up the act by some employees, federal prosecutors said. As a result, the cruise line paid a whopping $40 million fine, considered to be the largest penalty for environmental crimes in the nation, according to U.S. Attorney Wifredo Ferrer.



The 2016 case marked the company’s third conviction for ocean pollution since 1998. 



A supervised environmental compliance plan, or ECP, revealed “numerous violations” during the first two of five years of probation, which the company started serving in April 2017, including “major non-conformities,” Justice Department officials stated in the news release. 



Several violations cited Monday included falsifying environmental training records, discharging plastic in Bahamian waters, failing to implement new environmental measures required during probation and contacting the U.S. Coast Guard without the required process.



“This case demonstrates the importance of identifying and correcting compliance problems at their source,” said Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark for the Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division in a prepared statement. “Carnival sought to avoid the discovery of problems during the audits rather than learn from them. Carnival’s deliberate deception undermined the court’s supervision of probation.”



In addition to a $20 million fine, Carnival also has to restructure its corporate-compliance efforts, comply with new reporting requirements, pay for 15 additional independent audits per year and make major changes in how it uses and disposes of plastic and non-food waste. 



During the hearing, Carnival head officials were asked to personally pledge to comply under the terms of the settlement, according to the Department. 



On Tuesday, Princess Cruises’ Santa Clarita office, which serves as its headquarters on Town Center Drive, referred questions to an overall prepared statement: 



“Today the U.S. District Court of Southern Florida approved our agreement with the Department of Justice — setting forth new initiatives, improved procedures, additional training and significant investments to ensure we have the strongest and most sustainable environmental compliance program possible.



“Carnival Corporation remains committed to environmental excellence and protecting the environment in which we live, work and travel. Our aspiration is to leave the places we touch even better than when we first arrived.”



“A corporation is responsible to its shareholders and board of directors to be profitable, but not by breaking the law and destroying the very environment in which it navigates for profit,” said U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan for the Southern District of Florida. 



If the company fails to meet specific deadlines to create improved compliance efforts, Carnival will face fines up to $1 million per day and up to $10 million per day if deadlines are missed by 10 days. </s> Miami-based Carnival Cruise Lines was ordered by a Federal judge in Miami to pay a $20 million fine after getting caught dumping sewage into the ocean – again.

The company was fined $40 million in 2016 for dumping ‘oily waste’ into the ocean, then covering it up. Now the cruise line has been fined again for dumping plastic and food waste near the Bahamas violating the terms of its probation.

Carnival CEO Arnold Donald said the company is guilty and plans to fix its “shortcomings”. The company could face additional fines of up to $1 million a day if changes are not made by September. </s> A LOCAL environmentalist is working to be identified as a victim in ongoing pollution proceedings against Carnival Corporation in a US court.

Sam Duncombe, co-founder of reEarth, is one of three people behind an emergency motion filed in the US last week and will likely learn the fate of her efforts today.

Carnival Corporation’s Princess Cruises pled guilty in 2016 to several charges related to pollution and falsifying records. The corporation paid a $40 million fine and was placed on probation. The corporation is now facing charges that it violated its probation.

According to the Miami Herald, the charges include falsifying records, communicating with the US Coast Guard through a back channel, failing to give enough authority to the company’s environmental compliance officer, rushing to clean up ships ahead of visits by a court-appointed monitor and dumping plastic into Bahamian waters.

Carnival and federal prosecutors have reached a settlement agreement on the charges and Senior US District Judge Patricia Seitz is expected today to decide whether to accept the settlement or reject it and set a probation revocation hearing.

Ms Duncombe and two American environmentalists are hoping to intervene before the judge makes that decision.

Their emergency motion they filed last week says: “The criminal behaviour of Princess Cruise Lines LTD and its parent Carnival Corporation has caused significant harm to the environment and the individuals and communities that depend upon a clean environment for their livelihood and recreation. These victims encircle the United States, as Carnival’s activities span from Florida to Alaska, and from California to Maine.

“Victims of Carnival’s environmental crimes were not present or heard in proceedings resulting in the original plea agreement between the US government and Carnival, which may have contributed to the compromise being weaker than victims believe was necessary to bring about meaningful change in the corporate culture. The potential failure of the original plea agreement is aptly demonstrated by Carnival’s ongoing criminal violations of environmental laws, reflected in the reports of the court appointed monitor, the government’s efforts to revoke Carnival’s probation and ultimately the present proceedings. This court should not consider another compromise between the government and Carnival without meaningful participation by the victims of Carnival’s environmental crimes.”

Ms Duncombe said in the motion: “Carnival Corporation makes me feel like a second-class citizen in my own country: someone whose health, livelihood and community are an easily ignored inconvenience for the multi-billion-dollar international corporation.”

The applicants are not seeking financial compensation but want more transparency in the case and for their views and perspectives to be considered.

Yesterday, Ms Duncombe told The Tribune the government has taken a far too hands-off approach to the issue.

“This company got caught,” she said. “My worry is what measures are the government considering? They talk about an Environmental Protection Act. You know how long one has been sitting around gathering dust? But if this was something that was necessary for the WTO or OECD, they’d be all over it. ‘Spy Bill’, the NIA, all these things being pushed through but not environmental protection. This is not acceptable. They need to do something concrete about the situation.”

She was referring to the National Crime Intelligence Agency Bill, passed in the House of Assembly last week, and the Interception of Communications Act, passed in both Houses of Parliament last year.

Ms Duncombe pointed to a 1993 report in which Immigration Minister Brent Symonette, then a senator, called for a $1 million fine on cruise ship operations caught dumping waste in Bahamian waters.

“I’m calling on the now minister of immigration to say, ‘let’s do something about it,’” she said. “In 1993 he talked about fining cruise ships $1m for dumping so I’m saying, let’s do it, put proper procedures on board. How do we quantify the cost of the damage to the ocean when we don’t know what’s happening?”

Attorney General Carl Bethel has said an environmental protection law will come by the end of summer.

Ahead of a US judge’s decision about whether to reject Carnival’s settlement agreement with US federal prosecutors, the corporation filed letters of support from politicians, business associations and non-profit organisations. According to the Miami Herald, the letters touted Carnival’s economic impact and charitable donations ahead of today’s hearing. </s> Judge David Hittner found the oil giant violated pollution laws for more than 16,000 days at the largest petrochemical and petroleum complex in the country.

A federal court in Houston has ruled against Exxon-Mobil in a pollution lawsuit filed by environmentalists.

On Wednesday, the court fined the giant energy company nearly $20 million dollars for violating the federal Clean Air Act at its Baytown facility.

Two environmental groups – Environment Texas and the Sierra Club – sued Exxon-Mobil in 2010 and accused it of violating federal pollution laws.

The Baytown complex is believed to be the largest petrochemical and petroleum complex in the U.S. District Judge David Hittner found the company violated pollution laws there for more than 16,000 days.

The groups who sued celebrated the win and said they believe it’s the largest-ever fine levied in this type of lawsuit. The company said in a statement it disagrees with the ruling and is considering its legal options, including appealing the judge’s decision.

The case did show the company tried to clean up its act. Court documents indicate annual pollution violations at the facility dropped by 95 percent in recent years.

The almost $20 million fine isn’t small. But evidence in the case showed the company has already spent more than $1 billion on environmental improvements and regulatory compliance at the facility.
British-American cruise operator Carnival Corporation & PLC is fined $20 million for environmental violations.