Page 17: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (December 2015)

The steady stream of such violations is convincing evidence that prosecution alone is not an effective deterrent.

Over the years, various complaints have been made: there aren’t enough accessible reception facilities for oily wastes in U.S. ports, notably in the Gulf ports; or oily water separators are inadequate, or imperfectly understood by the vessel’s engineers.

Second, federal intervention is needed be a “check the box” exercise in bureau- the notion that chief engineers are sav- oil spill in or around U.S. waters (see: to determine why this lack of effective cratic procedure, even if it brings a grati- ing the company they work for all those Deepwater Horizon), it’s a federal case. access exists. It may well be that it is too fying revenue stream to Uncle Sam. terminal discharge fees, without anyone We need to make sure that the MARPOL expensive, or politically risky, to get rid We should also be concerned that by in the executive suite knowing what’s merry-go-round is not an excuse for a of oily and other toxic/hazardous wastes far the majority of defendants in these going on. So, the merry-go-round con- business as usual attitude.

once they are ashore. It may also be too cases are foreign seafarers, often very tinues, while government and industry expensive, because terminals charge too far from homes and families, con? ned look, just a little bit, the other way. Is it much. Or, it may be that terminals re- in the United States in a form of house too much to ask that a thorough investi- serve their services for favored clients. arrest. This is not to suggest that envi- gation be launched by the Environmen-

The Author

In other words, there needs to be a fed- ronmental crimes should be forgiven; it tal Protection Administration (EPA), the

Clay Maitland is the Co-Founder and eral probe. This, properly, is the job of is, however, important to view prosecu- Department of Justice (DOJ), and the

Chairman of the North American Ma- the U.S. Department of Justice; it isn’t torial zeal with a degree of detached im- Coast Guard?

rine Environment Protection Association enough to simply prosecute a certain partiality. In only a handful of cases has All of this is another way of asking (NAMEPA) and Managing Partner of In- number of alleged MARPOL violations, any effort been made to bring senior ex- whether our laws, including OPA ’90, of ternational Registries Inc. (the Marshall and consider it a job well done. Environ- ecutives ashore to account in a court of which MARPOL is a part, actually work

Islands Ship Registry).

mental protection at sea, as ashore, can’t law. We can and should be skeptical of as they should. When there is a major www.marinelink.com 17

MR #12 (10-17).indd 17 12/4/2015 1:10:49 PM