Chesapeake Whistle Blower Makes Cool Quarter Million for Oil Spill

Japanese shipper fined $1.8M for illegal oil discharge, with whistle-blower taking $250K

A Japanese ship operator was ordered to pay $1.8 million for illegally dumping oil residue and bilge water into the ocean last year, as part of a plea agreement Friday in federal court in Baltimore.

A crew member on board the ship who acted as a whistle-blower will receive $250,000 of that, while $450,000 will go to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation for projects benefiting the Chesapeake Bay, according to the office of Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. attorney for Maryland.

The sentence, handed down by U.S. District Judge Catherine C. Blake, came after Hachiuma Steamship Co., the operator of the M/V Selene Leader, pleaded guilty to violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

The plea agreement includes three years of probation, during which the company must develop an environmental compliance program, according to Rosenstein's office.
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Law requires that such discharge must first pass through a machine that separates oil from water.

My guess is that $250,000 had better represent a lifetime income for the Philippine who ratted on the Japanese shipping company, as he is unlikely to find another berth on a ship.

It was pretty stupid of the Captain to permit the discharge given the heavy penalties involved. Even if the separator was out of order, it would pay to wait to get it fixed.