OSG sentenced in pollution case

OSG sentenced in pollution case Overseas Shipholding Group Inc. was sentenced Wednesday in Beaumont, Texas, to pay $10 million as part of a $37 million criminal settlement with the United States over charges that its tankers improperly discharged oily water.
   The $37 million penalty, announced on Dec. 19, 2006 in Boston, is the largest-ever involving deliberate vessel pollution. It includes a $27.8 million criminal fine and a $9.2 million organizational community service payment that will fund various environmental projects coast-to-coast,
   OSG was charged with violating the Clean Water Act, as amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990; violations of the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships; conspiracy; false statements; and obstruction of justice.
   In pleading guilty, OSG admitted that it deliberately falsified various ships’ oil record books, the required logs in which all overboard discharges are to be accurately recorded. It also admitted the ships made discharges at night; and concealed bypass methods used to circumvent required pollution prevention equipment during U.S. port calls so that the Coast Guard would not discover the criminal activity.
   For the part of the case in East Texas, U.S. District Court Judge Thad Heartfield approved the proposed plea agreement with federal prosecutors and sentenced OSG to pay $7 million ($5.3 million criminal fine and $1.7 million in community service) immediately for making false statements to the Coast Guard. OSG was ordered to pay another $3 million in escrow for additional charges that will bring the total to $10 million in the Eastern District of Texas.
   A statement from the U.S. Justice Department said the overall settlement involved 33 felony counts for incidents on 12 oil tankers involving the ports of Beaumont, Boston, San Francisco, Portland, Maine and Wilmington.
   Prosecutors credited OSG’s self-disclosures, cooperation and compliance measures taken by proposing fewer charges and reduced criminal fines.
   OSG is a U.S. corporation headquartered in New York and is one of the largest publicly traded tanker companies in the world.