Celebrity fined for illegal dumping from Mercury

**Ally** · 01-24-2007, 05:36 AM

Cruise line's dumping fine inflated - Company still pays the extra $30,000

One unusual thing and one really unusual thing happened on the way to settling the state's case against Celebrity Cruises for dumping more than half a million gallons of untreated wastewater:

First, the company said Department of Ecology inspectors incorrectly charged the cruise line with three of the 10 instances cited -- and the department agreed, reducing the penalty from $100,000 to $70,000.

Then something stranger happened: Celebrity Cruises said, That's OK, we'll pay the extra $30,000, anyway.

"The money has never been an issue," said Michael Sheehan, a spokesman for the Miami-based cruise line. "We have taken responsibility for this situation very publicly from the beginning. We just wanted to make sure everyone was dealing with accurate information, and that has happened."

The money will be used for environmental restoration projects, Ecology said Tuesday.

As for the company forking over the extra $30,000, Ecology inspector Amy Jankowiak, who uncovered the dumping, said, "I think it's a first.

"It definitely is unusual. We're not used to that."

Sheehan said Celebrity volunteered to pay the extra $30,000 "as a show of good faith." The company said the gesture "further demonstrates our commitment to preserving and protecting Washington's marine environment."

Previously, the company had fired the environmental-compliance officer on the cruise ship Mercury, hired a consultant to investigate the incidents and committed to spend $4 million on improved wastewater treatment for the vessel.

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Ecology announced in November that the Mercury had violated an agreement with the state in 10 incidents of dumping in the Strait of Juan de Fuca -- some just a few miles from commercial shellfish beds.

Most of the dumping involved untreated wastewater from the showers, sinks and laundry of the ship, although some treated sewage also was discharged. The dumping occurred in the autumn of 2005 and was discovered by Ecology inspectors in September 2006.

The proposed $100,000 fine -- the maximum allowable -- was the first of its kind issued under a 2004 agreement among cruise lines, the state and the Port of Seattle, where cruise ships dock.

Celebrity Cruises in December appealed to Ecology to set aside the $30,000 of the fine imposed for three dumping incidents it said occurred in Canadian waters. Ecology inspectors misunderstood the longitude and latitude notation system used on the vessel, it said.

(Seattle Advertiser)