MARINE DEFENDERS
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​A Coast guard inspector

​
“Our job is to make sure that vessels are following the law,” says Marine Defender James Kline, a Marine Safety Specialist with the US Coast Guard’s Marine Inspections Division at Sector New York.   

​“Unfortunately, there are people out there that still illegally dump oil overboard. It’s my job to stop it.”


“The main law that we’re out there enforcing is MARPOL, which is a convention to prevent oil pollution in the water.”
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THE INSPECTION
 
“We go out and do inspections every day," says Kline.  "We're looking at everything that has to do with oil: how it's taken on, how it's transferred, how it's taken off the vessel or discharged off the vessel."

"Some of the first things that we'll start with is the documentations: certificates, paperwork type items. We're going to make sure they're all valid, they've been endorsed and everything is squared away."
The Oil Record Book

“MARPOL requires mariners to track all oil, every drop, from the time it comes on the vessel till the time it comes off the vessel," says Kline.   This tracking takes the form of an Oil Record Book which records the origin and fate of all the oil onboard the ship. 


"The Oil Record Book is a log of where and when they take oil on board, and when they transfer oil, even if it's on the ship, or sent off the ship to somewhere else," says Kline.  "We will look at the Oil Record Book and kind of match it up and make sure that it's staying within the parameters of the operating equipment.  Inconsistencies in Oil Record Book is one of numerous red flags that would get us to start looking a little deeper into what's going on with regards to filtering oil, and getting rid of oil on the boat.  Of course, with a well-kept book, if somebody's being accused of intentionally dumping oil, they can prove that they haven’t done anything wrong.  Or, if they can't, then it gets looked at a little closer."
"We'll also talk to the chief engineer a little bit, or the second engineer, depending who's in charge of running that equipment, and we'll get some basic information to make sure they have a good understanding of the equipment and that they know how to operate it," says Kline.

"Then we'll actually go down and do a visual inspection of the equipment and have them do an operational test. That gives us a lot of information. That tells us whether or not they understand their equipment, if they know how to use it, and if it's operating correctly.  If it's not operating correctly, then we got to figure out what's wrong with it."

 
"Whenever you find something wrong, whether it's the alarm system or the piece of equipment's not operating correctly, it's not against the law for that stuff not to work.  They just can’t discharge any oil through that system. And we recommend that they take a look at it, find out what the problem is and fix that equipment prior to using it."
 
"It's also another red flag for us. When the equipment doesn’t operate correctly, then you have to start looking at the record book a little more closely to see how much they’ve been discharging and the last time they did a discharge.  How much they retained on board?  And then we might go as far as sounding some tanks to see if their levels in the tank match what’s in the record book for retention."
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THE MAGIC PIPE

"From my experience, the most common form of cheating with regards to illegally dumping oil over the side of a vessel is what we call a magic pipe," says Coast Guard Marine Safety Specialist James Kline.

​"
This magic pipe can be any kind of vessel that will transport oil directly from a holding tank or a bilge, right around the oily water separating equipment right into the ocean.  It could be a flexible hose. It could be a hard pipe that they made and it'll have oil coming out of it.”
 
“It's a very hard thing to find, the all elusive magic pipe," Kline explains. "But sometime you might get lucky and there might be a crewman onboard that would tip you off and lead you to it.”

“If we find something, we’re going to start building a case at that point," says Kline. "We'll call in our investigating officers and they’re going to have their own set of questions. They’re going to start interviewing crew. We’re going to look at things more closely.”
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DON'T DO IT
 
“Coast Guard Inspectors are kind of like the workhorse of the system," says Kline. "We understand the equipment, we understand the process, we understand the laws that are in place. The investigating officers, they know how to lead it from a civil penalty to a criminal penalty.  It’ll go from us, to our Coast Guard inspecting investigators, and then, possibly, to the state district attorney.”

“Every oil has a unique fingerprint so we could actually match that up between the magic pipe, a tank, an overboard discharge. So we're going take all that evidence, we're going collect it and we're going try and match it up. If we match it up its prison time for someone.”
 

"If I had a message for mariners out there of the world, with regards to oil pollution, it would be: "Don’t do it,” says Kline.  Be responsible. Treat our environment with respect. If you like prison go ahead and dump oil on the water. If you don’t like prison, don’t do it.”
 
“If you see something that’s wrong, something that’s not right, somebody that’s doing something they shouldn’t do, call us. Call the Coast Guard. We’ll take care of it.”
 
James Klein was interviewed in December 2005

WHAT is an OILY WATER SEPARATOR?

Large marine vessels generate substantial quantities of oily sludge and oily waste.  When water mixes in the bottom of the vessel, known as the bilge, with oil that has leaked from machinery, engines, lubrication, or fuel systems, it must be properly  collected, stored and processed.   

The Oily Water Separator 
is pollution control device that separates the water from the oil.  Bilge waste containing  fifteen parts per million or less of oil (as measured by the ship's Oil Content Monitor) may be discharged overboard.

If the Oil Content Monitor detects concentrations of oil greater than 15 parts per million, an audible alarm will sound and overboard discharges will stop automatically.
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Oil Content Monitor. Credit: CGP
Alert!  ​Falsifying an oil record book is a crime!  Lying to a Coast Guard officer, presenting a falsified oil record book, hiding evidence, or telling seafarers not to tell the truth are felony offenses and can lead to heavy fines and imprisonment.
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The oil record book is a legal document that records the fate of all oil on board a ship. Source: CGP

WHAT IS AN OIL RECORD BOOK?

Ships are required by APPS and MARPOL to maintain an Oil Record Book, a legal document in which they log the disposal of oil residue and oily mixtures, slops from bilges, and oily bilge water.

The mariner in charge of operations must is required to keep full and accurate records about the discharge of this material overboard, by incineration, or through other forms of disposal.

​The oil record book must also keep records of any emergency, accidental, or other exceptional discharges of oil or mixtures, including a statement of the circumstances of, and reasons for, the discharge. This book must be available for inspection at all times.

THE ACT TO PREVENT POLLUTION FROM SHIPS

The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (APPS) was passed by Congress in 1980 to implement the international Marine Treaty on Oil Pollution (MARPOL) in the United States.  This act made it a crime for any ship to knowingly violate the oil pollution provisions of MARPOL, which established global environmental standards to protect the ocean environment.   

The United States is one of
 156 states that have signed MARPOL, representing 99.42% of the world's shipping tonnage, and is known internationally as one of the most effective countries enforcing the terms of the convention.
​
One of the Coast Guard's main responsibilities is to enforce APPS, which covers almost all US-flagged and foreign commercial ships in US navigable waters, as well as the actions of US-flagged ships in waters around the world.  

          KEY PROVISIONS
  • APPS/MARPOL requires that oily wastewater on ships be processed by a properly working oily water separator and oil content monitor and that any discharge contain no more than 15 parts per million of oil.
  • ​APPS/MARPOL requires that all discharges be accurately recorded in an oil record book.​​
​
PENALTIES: Violating APPS is a class D felony.

Individuals can receive a fine of up to $200,000 per count or up to twice the gross gain or loss from the offense. Individuals can also be imprisoned for up to six years.  

​Corporations can face fines of up to $500,000 per count or up to twice the gross gain or loss from the offense.  APPS regulations for oil pollution can be found at
Title 33, Code of Federal Regulations, part 151. 

The Whistleblower provision in APPS

Section 2105 of the legislation creating The Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 USC 1908), specifically authorizes the payment of "an amount equal to not more than 1/2 of such fine may be paid to the person giving information leading to conviction." 
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​Please visit our Whistleblower Files for more information about individual cases and awards.

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  • Home
    • About
    • Contact
  • Oil Pollution Laws
    • Coast Guard Inspection
    • A Prosecutor's Perspective
    • Oil Pollution Act of 1990
    • Tools for Educators
  • Whistleblower Files
    • Whistleblower Notes
    • A Whistleblower Perspective
    • List of Whistleblower Awards
  • Oil Pollution Facts
    • A Toxicologist's Perspective
    • Oil in A Nesting Ground
    • Impact on Mammals, Birds and Fish
  • Coastal Impacts
    • Mass Coastal Environment
    • Buzzards Bay
    • New Bedford Mystery Solved
    • Hidden Costs of Spills
    • Lesson from An Old Spill
    • Chris Reddy: Marine Defender
    • Mass Resources for Mariners
    • NJ Coastal Environment
    • Delaware Bay and Oil
    • Recreational Boaters
    • Marine Debris Facts
  • Report Spills
  • News
  • Watch