A Chesapeake-based ship-scrapping company and 2 of
its officers have been indicted on charges of conspiring to illegally discharge
pollutants into the Elizabeth
River
Steven E. Avery, 55, of Bohannon in Mathews County;
his father, William J. Avery, 80, of Virginia Beach; and S.E.A. Solutions Corp.
all were charged with 7 violations of the Clean Water Act and one count of
making false statements to an Environmental Protection Agency investigator, according
to a news release from the U.S. attorney's office in the Eastern District of
Virginia.
Steven Avery is the vice president of the company, and
William Avery is the treasurer.
According to the indictment, pollutants were
discharged into the water from the motor vessel Snow Bird, which was being scrapped
on a site on the Elizabeth River in Chesapeake
Contaminated water was pumped overboard to keep the
ship afloat and remove excess contaminated water and fluids.
The spill on Oct. 5, 2010 was discovered during a
Virginia Department of Environmental Quality compliance inspection at an
adjacent facility, according to a consent order from DEQ dated Aug. 5, 2011. The
DEQ staffer spotted an oil sheen in the Southern Branch between the shoreline
and the Snow Bird. The Coast Guard reported about 4,000 gallons of oil was
discharged.
S.E.A. Solutions was ordered to pay a civil charge
of $29,430 in settlement of the violations, the DEQ consent order said.
The company had also previously been cited by DEQ
for operating without a permit. In October 2008, S.E.A. Solutions agreed to pay
a $10,400 civil charge.
The federal counts related to the Clean Water Act
carry a maximum term of three years in prison and $50,000 fine for each day the
violations occurred. The counts related to the conspiracy and false statements
carry a maximum of 5 years in prison and a fine of $250,000, according to the U.S.
Related News:
More than 1,000 gallons of oil spills into
 |
Oil spill in
|
More than 1,000 gallons of oil spilled into the
southern branch of Elizabeth
River
The incident occurred at a ship dismantling
facility in Chesapeake
Sea Solutions called the Coast Guard and hired
Coastal Solutions, which removed more than 1,000 gallons of oil from the water.
A containment boom prevented the oil from spreading beyond the cove, the Coast
Guard said.
An undetermined amount of oil remains aboard the
ship.
Source: The Daily Press. By Cory Nealon. 7 October 2010
http://weblogs.dailypress.com/news/science/dead_rise/2010/10/more_than_1000_gallons_of_oil_spills_into_elizabeth_river.html
