The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has slapped fines on a pair of commercials ships found to have run afoul of the agency’s inspection and monitoring rules and the need to report violations.
In assessing penalties totaling $81,474, authorities said the violations took place in California and Louisiana and involved the MSC Aurora container ship and the Western Durban bulk carrier, with both violating the agency’s Vessel General Permit (VGP) issued under the Clean Water Act..
“Vessels that do not comply with their CWA permits can have significant environmental impacts to our waterways, including the introduction of invasive species,” said EPA enforcement and compliance assurance division director for Pacific Southwest region Amy Miller in a news release. “Failure to comply with the Vessel General Permit requirements can result in significant penalties.”
According to EPA officials, over nearly a five-year period, the MSC Aurora failed to conduct required routine visual inspections for 11 voyages to California ports. In addition, MSC Aurora staffers are also charged with failing to submit timely annual reports to the proper authorities from 2016 through 2019.
MSC officials have since agreed to pay a civil penalty in the amount of $66,474.
In assessing penalties totally $15,000 against Western Durban, EPA officials asserted in August 2017 the Tokyo-based Victoria Ship Management company “failed to perform monthly functionality monitoring and an annual calibration of the ballast water treatment system before discharging ballast water at the Port of New Orleans.”
With invasive species a persistent issue in U.S. coastal and inland waters, faulty management of ballast water can cause damage to local species in ways that include disrupting habitats and increasing competitive pressure.
"Vessel self-inspections are mandated as a means of identifying things like sources of spills, broken pollution prevention equipment or other situations that are or might lead to permit violations," the EPA stated in the release. "Self-inspections are required by the permit so that the owner or operator can diagnose and fix problems to remain compliant with the permit. Because the CWA relies on self-reporting of permittees, inspection, monitoring, and reporting violations are serious and undermine the Vessel General Permit program."
