Owners of the Nils B plead guilty to environmental crimes

Two German shipping companies that owned and operated the cargo vessel Nils B have pleaded guilty before a federal court in San Diego on Tuesday to charges of dumping oily bilge into the sea.    The U.S. Justice Department said the two German shipping companies that owned and operated the cargo vessel Nils B have pleaded guilty before a federal court in San Diego on Tuesday to charges of dumping oily bilge into the sea.
   Vessel operator W. Bockstiegel Reederei GmbH & Co. KG and owner W. Bockstiegel GmbH & Co. Reederei KG MS “NILS B” pleaded guilty to a single count of violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships by failing to accurately maintain the Nils B.‘s oil record book.
   “In doing so, the firms failed to disclose that oil contaminated water had been discharged into the ocean from the vessel without the use of pollution prevention equipment,” the Justice Department said.
   According to court documents, U.S. Coast Guard personnel boarded the Nils B. on Aug. 5, 2014 after its entry into the Port of San Diego. “The Coast Guard discovered that the crew had failed to keep an oil record book for a significant period of time, modifications had been made to piping coming from the oil water separator, and oil was discovered in discharge piping that should not have been present,” the Justice Department said.
   Sentencing in this case is set for Nov. 3. The company and the U.S. government have agreed to recommend that the court impose a criminal penalty of $750,000, of which $250,000 will be used as a community service payment to benefit the Tijuana River National Estuarine Research Reserve.