It took just 16 days in August for the Algoma Niagara to leave environmental blemishes in its wake on three of the Great Lakes.
The dry-bulk vessel released some 1,215 gallons of oily bilge water into Lake Superior on Aug. 12, according to a court filing.
You could say the Algoma Niagara traveled a long way to receive special recognition on the Welland Canal in Ontario. The vessel was built at shipyard in China and embarked on a two-month voyage last year to Canada, via the Panama Canal. The ship sailed its maiden voyage on the St. Lawrence Seaway last November. On Thursday, the Algoma Niagara’s captain,
Two days later, it released 1,242 gallons into Lake Erie, continuing to discharge the oily water mix while entering and exiting U.S. waters for approximately 68 miles.
Then came Lake Michigan’s turn: 555 gallons on Aug. 25, and 1,057 gallons on Aug. 28.
The EPA describes oily bilge water – a byproduct of operating vessels – as a mix of fuels, greases, antifreeze, hydraulic fluids, cleaning and degreasing solvents that leak into the lowest part of a vessel from engines, piping and other mechanical equipment.
The discharges are among numerous reported violations that have landed Algoma Central Corp., owner of the Algoma Niagara, back before a federal judge in Buffalo. Three years ago, U.S. Magistrate Judge H. Kenneth Schroeder Jr. fined the company $500,000 and put it on probation after the crew on the Algoma Strongfield accidentally but negligently dumped unprocessed bilge water into Lake Ontario in 2017.
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Now, there’s a petition before Schroeder, filed March 21 by U.S. Probation and Pretrial Services, accusing the St. Catharines, Ont., marine shipping company of violating its probation by breaking federal laws and not adhering to an environmental compliance plan the judge ordered as part of its probation.
As part of its operations, Algoma Central owns and operates a fleet of dry bulk carriers that each stretch the length of two football fields – moving coal, iron ore, salt, grain and other cargo around the Great Lakes.
The Algoma Niagara isn’t the only Algoma Central vessel mentioned in the petition.
Among the others:
Algoma Innovator: suspected of seven illegal discharges from August to November 2022 into Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, approximately 8,318 gallons.
Algoma Conveyor: eight suspected illegal oily water discharges from September 2022 to March 2023 into Lake Huron, Lake Michigan and Lake Superior, about 12,046 gallons.
Algoma Harvester: five suspected illegal discharges of dry cargo residue of iron ore in Lake Huron.
Algoma Sault: reportedly discharged salt residue in a prohibited area while transiting Lake Michigan north of Milwaukee.
Algoma Strongfield: Reportedly discharged oily water mixtures on Aug. 12 beginning and ending in Canadian waters in Lake Erie, but also for about 28 nautical miles in U.S. waters.
“We are limited, at this stage, in making public comment about a pending matter out of respect for the process,” said Buffalo attorney Rodney O. Personius, who appeared on behalf of the company at a recent court proceeding. “What we can say is that our investigation discloses the petition may well be riddled with legal and factual errors. What we are dealing with involves the interpretation of various rules and regulations, some more complex than others, which vary in their application, depending upon the location, at any given point in time, of a vessel. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be speaking with the government in a cooperative fashion to try to clarify the situation in a manner that affords fairness to all concerned. We’re hopeful that a far clearer, more accurate picture will be put on the record at the next appearance before Magistrate Judge Schroeder.”
Assistant U.S. Attorney Aaron Mango, who is handling the case, said the U.S. Attorney’s Office will meet with the company’s lawyers and “work toward coming to a resolution.”
The company’s 2017 misdemeanor involved the Algoma Strongfield, a vessel built in China and delivered on May 30, 2017, by a crew from a vessel transport company based in the Netherlands.
On June 6, 2017, the Algoma Strongfield was crossing Lake Ontario. While in U.S. waters within the Western District of New York, the captain permitted the crew to discharge what he thought was wash water into Lake Ontario. But the captain and others in the crew did not know the wash water tank instead contained unprocessed oily bilge water.
About 11,887 gallons of unprocessed oily bilge water were released into Lake Ontario.
The discharge was stopped when another Algoma employee learned of the discharge and informed the captain that the wash water tank contained unprocessed oily bilge water. After the incident, Algoma contacted Canadian and U.S. authorities to report the discharge.
Personius was on the legal team representing Algoma Central in that case, and the defense’s sentencing recommendation described the incident as “an unintentional, negligent discharge of unprocessed bilge water” that resulted from the crew’s failure to adequately communicate.
The crew responsible for delivering the ship from China to Canada transferred unprocessed bilge water, at the direction of an Algoma employee, into a tank designed to hold wash water during the delivery voyage. But only certain Algoma crew members were informed of that.
“Algoma did not engage in knowingly unlawful conduct, but rather acted negligently,” the 2021 defense filing stated.
Algoma’s violation did not result in quantifiable harm to the environment with the impact of the discharge not measurable, according to the filing.
The company’s lawyers described Algoma’s Clean Water Act violation in the Algoma Strongfield case as “an aberration.”
“Algoma has never engaged in any similar incidents of misconduct, nor has it been the subject of an investigation into civil or criminal environmental violations of any kind,” the company’s lawyers said in a court filing in 2021.
When Schroeder sentenced the company in 2021, then-U.S. Attorney James P. Kennedy Jr. said the “conviction and the fine imposed sends a strong message that those who violate the Clean Water Act will be held accountable for their actions.”
“This penalty also ensures that this defendant will be monitored in the future and will be strictly obligated to comply with those environmental laws and regulations that protect our waters, our fisheries, our wildlife, and each of us,” Kennedy said at the time.