A U.S. court has sentenced a Cypriot ship management company to a $2 million fine and four years of probation for MARPOL violations, the latest in a long-running series of successful federal prosecutions for oil pollution charges. 

 

In a plea agreement, Interorient Marine Services of Limassol, Cyprus admitted that oil cargo residues and oily bilge water were illegally dumped from the product tanker Ridgebury Alexandra Z into the ocean without being processed through an oil-water separator. The company pleaded guilty to one count of falsifying entries in the ship's Oil Record Book in connection with the discharge. 

 

“By illegally dumping oily waste into the ocean, Interorient intentionally violated federal law that protects valuable marine resources and wildlife,” said Department of Justice Assistant Attorney General Jeffrey Bossert Clark. “This conviction shows that corporations and individuals that willfully flout our nation’s environmental laws will be held accountable by criminal prosecution.”

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Twenty members of Florida’s congressional delegation sent a letter Tuesday to the Trump Administration opposing any rollback of safety regulations adopted after the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.

 

The letter was released by delegation co-chairmen U.S. Reps. Vern Buchanan, R-Longboat Key, and Alcee Hastings.

 

In a letter to Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, the Florida representatives warned that “an oil spill can devastate a regional economy and inflict long-term environmental damage” and asked the secretary to “reject any proposals to roll back regulations that were specifically adopted to address systemic safety failures that led to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.”

 

A division of the Interior Department, the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, recently said some of the regulations adopted in response to the tragedy created “potentially unduly burdensome requirements” on oil and gas operators, Buchanan’s office said in a news release. The proposal to roll back safety rules was published in the Federal Register at the end of 2017.

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In a world where our resources are finite, it’s important we recycle whenever we can. Recycling involves the process of gathering and processing materials (such as bottles and cans) that would be otherwise discarded and converting them into something new and useful. 

Recycling is vital for cleaning up the environment and keeping our communities clean. By reusing recycled items to produce new products we reduce the impact we have on mother nature. Also, it doesn’t hurt that you can also make a little bit of extra money by recycling the right types of items.
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The more the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality looks for groundwater contaminated with PFAS in the state, the more it finds it

 

Twenty-eight locations across Michigan, and rising, have been found contaminated with potentially health-harming chemicals once used in nonstick surfaces and firefighting foam.

 

Gov. Rick Snyder last month launched a coordinated, statewide effort to find and begin addressing polyfluoroalkyl substances, or PFAS, which includes a group of man-made chemicals that were commonly used since the 1950s in stain-resistant carpeting, nonstick pots and pans, waterproof shoes and other household products. PFAS was also used in firefighting foam, particularly at military bases. Use of the chemicals was largely phased out by 2015.

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