Ship Chief Engineer Pleads Guilty to Intentional Discharge of Oily Waste and Obstruction of Justice Charges in Federal Court in Louisiana

On May 18, 2022, the Chief Engineer of a foreign flagged vessel pleaded guilty to two felony counts for deliberately discharging approximately 10,000 gallons of oil-contaminated bilge water overboard in U.S. waters off the coast of New Orleans, Louisiana, last year and then trying to obstruct the Coast Guard’s investigation of the spill. The illegal conduct was first reported to the Coast Guard by a crew member via social media.

Kirill Kompaniets, a Russian national and Chief Engineer of the ship, a commercial bulk carrier registered in the Marshall Islands, was charged with violating the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships. According to court documents, repair work was being done to correct a problem with the discharge of clean ballast water when a valve burst and the engine room flooded. Kompaniets and a subordinate engineer deliberately dumped the oil-contaminated water in the bilges overboard late on the night of March 13-14, 2021, after the leak had been controlled. The discharge occurred while the ship was anchored near the South West Passage off the coast of Louisiana.

The required pollution prevention equipment for the ship – an oily-water separator and an oil content monitor – were not used, and the discharge was not recorded in the Oil Record Book, a required ship log.

Kompaniets was also charged with obstruction of justice based on various efforts to conceal the illegal discharge. In a joint factual statement filed in Court with his guilty plea, Kompaniets admitted to the following acts of obstruction of justice: (1) making false statements to the Coast Guard that concealed the cause and nature of a hazardous condition, and concealing that the engine room of the vessel had flooded and that oil-contaminated bilge water had been discharged overboard; (2) destroying the computer alarm printouts for the period of the illegal discharge that were sought by the Coast Guard; (3) holding meetings with subordinate crew members and directing them to make false statements to the Coast Guard; (4) making a false Oil Record Book that failed to disclose the illegal discharge; (5) directing subordinate engine room employees to delete all evidence from their cell phones in anticipation of the Coast Guard inspection; and (6) preparing a retaliatory document accusing the whistleblower of poor performance as part of an effort to discredit him.

“The intentional pollution of U.S. waters and the deliberate effort to cover up the crime are extremely serious criminal offenses that will not be tolerated,” said Assistant Attorney General Todd Kim of the Justice Department’s Environment and Natural Resources Division. “Prosecutions such as this one should send a clear message to those that would violate the law and endanger our precious natural resources.”

“The defendant in this case deliberately disregarded procedures designed to protect the environment from contaminants and then attempted to hide his actions,” said U.S. Attorney Duane A. Evans. “Today’s announcement emphasizes that our office along with our federal partners are committed to holding accountable all parties whose criminality jeopardizes our environment and places the public and the ecosystem at risk.”

The prosecution is being handled by Assistant United States Attorney G. Dall Kammer for the Eastern District of Louisiana and Senior Litigation Counsel Richard A. Udell of the Environment and Natural Resources Division’s Environmental Crimes Section, with assistance from the United States Coast Guard’s District 8 and the Coast Guard Criminal Investigations Division.

The investigation is still ongoing.

Chief Judge Nannette Jolivette Brown of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia was assigned to the case. The sentencing date has been set for September 1.