Carnival Agrees to Fine, Will Plead Guilty to Pollution Charges

Carnival Corp.'s Princess Cruise Lines agreed to pay a $40 million penalty and to plead guilty to seven criminal charges stemming from the cruise company's polluting the seas and efforts to cover it up.

According to the Justice Department, as part of an agreement with the U.S. government, cruise ships from eight of Carnival's cruise lines will be under a court-supervised environmental monitoring program for five years, which will include independent audits and a court-appointed monitor.

The charges in the plea agreement related to Carnival's Caribbean Princess cruise ship and stemmed from an investigation into an August 2013 illegal discharge of oily waste off the coast of England.

"The pollution in this case was the result of more than just bad actors on one ship," stated Assistant Attorney General John C. Cruden of the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. "It reflects very poorly on Princess's culture and management."

In a separate statement, Princess Cruises stated it was extremely disappointed with the "inexcusable actions" of its employees who violated company policies and environmental law by bypassing its bilge water treatment system and discharging untreated bilge water into the ocean.

In a press release on Thursday, the Justice Department said the Caribbean Princess had been making illegal discharges of bilge water since 2005 using a number of methods over the years.

Princess said an internal investigation also revealed practices on some of its other ships that didn't comply with its policies and violated environmental law. The cruise line also said that over the past three years it has put a number of corrective measures into place and has restructured its fleet operations, including the hiring of new leadership.

Write to Tess Stynes at [e-mail]

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 01, 2016 12:15 ET (17:15 GMT)

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