Pacific Spirit Marine Institute
Monday, July 2, 2007
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., Donates $9.2 Million to Marine Environmental Projects!
Okay, no they didn’t. Donate is the wrong word. Overseas Shipholding was fined $37million for criminal activities; $9.2 million was ordered community service payments to fund community marine environmental projects. Wilmington; Boston; Portland Maine; Los Angeles; San Francisco and Beaumont Texas all of which were harmed by the illegal dumping of waste oil by Overseas Shipholding Group Inc.
The US Coast Guard says Overseas Shipholding Group was deliberately polluting by dumping waste oils in the above ports. The Department of Justice agreed.
Let’s cut to the chase here and make a long story short. OSG’s management failed to stop this dumping after allegations were brought to them several times. They in fact failed to stop this activity even after the government started its investigation.
Acting on a tip from Canadian Officials an investigation was launched and it was discovered that Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. had offloaded more than 150,000 gallons of oil-contaminated waste in the waters between only Maine and Massachusetts. Adding insult to injury they falsified log records to cover-up their dirty deeds.
OSG company officials admitted in court that its “motive for the crimes was financial” “OSG was saving the cost of offloading waste oil in port and the time it would take to comply with the law,”
There is no way to read anything other than it was cheaper to pay any fines than it would be to comply with environmental regulations.
This tells me, the fines being brought are vastly too low. If this penalty is supposed to serve as a deterrent for other companies attempting to circumvent the law, it’s not going to work.
Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. is one of the largest publicly traded tanker firms in the world and according to William Mercer, Acting Associated Attorney General, Overseas Shipholding Group “has engaged in repeated and deliberate pollution of our oceans,”
In April 2007, the Company completed the acquisition of Heidmar lightering business from Heidmar, Inc. which is a subsidiary of ‘Morgan Stanley Capital Group, Inc. OSG (Overseas Shipholding Group) completed the acquisition of Maritrans Inc., a US Flag crude oil and petroleum product shipping company.
On August 6, 2006 OSG announced a strategic partnership with TransCanada CNG Technologies Ltd.
Are you investing in publicly traded corperations that are commiting evil acts? If while you are planning your future and your childrens future, your investments are assuring your future demise, wittingly or not, you are contributing to global warming, and distrution of ocean habitat.
Please take a hard look at your investments and see where you stand.
It’s interesting to note; OSG’s address is listed as 666 Third Ave. New York, NY.
Kick save and a beauty, you can’t make this stuff up!
Labels: Canada, Fined, Global Warming, OSG, Ocean, Ocean Habitat, Overseas Shipholding Group Inc., US Coast Guard, illegal dumping, oil, oil spill, oil tanker, ports, waste oil
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
What Color is Your Money? Are you unknowingly funding lawless ‘brown pirates’ or ‘green jeannies’?
Monday, May 21, 2007
On the Maiden Voyage of the PSMI blog our minds turned to the romance of ships upon the waters. Like most romance, when examined, there is a reality not always pretty.
It is simply astonishing to consider cruise lines dump more than 160,000 gallons of sewage into our oceans daily. Some 25,000 gallons are toilet sewage. If that doesn’t send chills down your spine while seated at your computer screen, try thinking about that when you are seated at your next seafood repast.
Currently cruise ships are allowed to dump untreated sewage from toilets into waters outside the 3-mile limit. An appetizing thought when one thinks about where commercial fishing takes place. Sewage and dinner are not two words I like to have swimming together in my mind.
Inside the 3-mile limit toilet sewage, if treated first by woefully inadequate marine sewage treatment devices, is still allowed. Good news? Not so fast. Untreated sewage from sinks and showers is still allowed inside the 3-mile limit. Can you say loufa or hock-a-loogey?
Cruising is a wonderful experience. Mankind atop the waters of the world, calling in far off and exotic ports, is the stuff we are made from. Since man was able to tie a few sticks of wood together with twine he has taken to the sea. Our hearts haven’t changed, but our circumstance has.
Cruise ships are not the only culprits when it comes to dumping the unspeakable into our oceans. Corporations and municipalities will not escape our future entries.
We are flushing more than waste into our seas. We are flushing our very existence away and that is the very real, very tragic waste.
Labels: Cruise Ships, Ocean, Sewage, illegal dumping
© 2009, Pacific Spirit Marine Institute.
Vinnie Isn’t the Only Thing Sleeping with the Fishes
