Kinder Morgan subsidiary sentenced over federal dumping charge

A U.S. District Court in Oregon has sentenced a Louisiana-based subsidiary of energy and pipeline firm Kinder Morgan Energy Partners over a federal felony charge of ocean dumping.

Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals was ordered to pay a $240,000 fine, with $84,000 to go to fund various environmental projects in Oregon.

KMBT, as part of a previous settlement with the Justice Department, admitted to violating the federal Ocean Dumping Act, which makes it a crime to knowingly transport or cause to be transported, without a permit, certain materials from the United States for the purpose of dumping the materials into ocean waters.

In May, federal prosecutors filed the felony charge against KMBT alleging the firm illegally dumped 160 metric tons of potash into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Oregon. Kinder Morgan operates a seven-acre potash terminal and a 95-acre bulk fertilizer terminal at the Port of Portland.

According to the Justice Department in August 2003, KMBT received a 160-metric-ton shipment of contaminated potash that was unusable. A KMBT superintendent paid the master of the vessel taking on the load $1,250 to load the wet, off-specification potash on the vessel抯 deck for later disposal into the ocean.

In August 2007, federal investigators located the master of the vessel in Japan. The retired master produced logbooks and told Interpol investigator exactly where the crew dumped the potash into the ocean.

Scott West, special agent-in-charge for EPA's Criminal Investigation Division in Seattle, said the company's attempt at a short cut in managing a contamination problem has proven to be a costly violation of federal law. It's hard to imagine a clearer violation of the Ocean Dumping Act, West said. Intentionally using the ocean as a garbage can for off spec potash is not only morally wrong, it's a crime. Kinder Morgan has paid a serious price for not taking care of this properly at the dock.

Source: American Shipper