FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE	ENR

TUESDAY, JUNE 2, 1998                                                                                                                   (202) 514-2008

                                                                                                                                                                                  TDD (202) 514-1888




ROYAL CARIBBEAN TO PLEAD GUILTY TO

CONSPIRACY, OBSTRUCTION OF JUSTICE




$9 Million Criminal Fine Largest Ever for Cruise Ship Case




	Announcing the largest fine ever for an environmental crimes
case involving cruise ships, the Department of Justice today said
that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. ("RCCL"), one of the world's
largest passenger cruise lines, will pay a $9 million penalty and
plead guilty to a fleet-wide conspiracy of dumping oil into the
ocean and lying to the U.S. Coast Guard to cover up the crimes.




	"Our oceans are not a dumping ground for polluters," said Lois
J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney General for Environment and Natural
Resources.  "This plea agreement shows that we will vigorously
enforce the laws designed to protect our oceans and criminally
prosecute those, such as Royal Caribbean, who break them."




	Filed today in U.S. District Court both in Miami, Florida, and
San Juan, Puerto Rico, the plea agreement was reached on the eve of
trials scheduled in Miami and Puerto Rico on June 2nd and 8th.  The
agreement resolves only those pending indictments.  The
government's investigation into RCCL is continuing.




	Today's agreement is part of an ongoing effort by the Justice
Department and the Coast Guard, known as Vessel Pollution
Initiative, to crack down on and hold accountable those who pollute
our oceans.




	RCCL, also known as Royal Caribbean International, will plead
guilty to eight felony counts involving two separate indictments: 
one in Miami and one in Puerto Rico.




	"The irony of this case is that this company has spoiled the
very waters upon which its corporate survival and success depends. 
This action was further aggravated by Royal Caribbean when they
decided to lie about their conduct.  This plea agreement should
mark the beginning of some serious corporate soul-searching on the
part of RCCL," said Steve Herman, EPA's Assistant Administrator for
Enforcement and Compliance Assurance.




	In the District of Puerto Rico, RCCL will plead guilty to
seven counts tomorrow and pay an $8 million criminal fine before
U.S. District Court Judge Juan Perez-Gimenez, including a
fleet-wide conspiracy to discharge harmful quantities of oil into
U.S. waters from at least five of the company's cruise ships.  The
conspiracy included using false oil record books.  These logs are
kept to record all overboard discharges.  Some RCCL engineers had
referred to the oil record books, which were presented to the Coast
Guard during inspections in U.S. ports, as the "Eventyrbok," which
means "Fairytale book" in Norwegian.




	RCCL will plead guilty to two counts of obstruction of
justice:  (i) witness tampering (ordering an engineer to lie to a
federal grand jury) and (ii) destroying evidence of a bypass pipe
used to make illegal discharges from the cruise ship "Sovereign of
the Seas."  According to a joint factual statement signed by RCCL: 
"Shortly after the Sovereign of the Seas left San Juan, a senior
officer aboard the cruise ship ordered the crew to work through the
night to dismantle a bypass pipe used to circumvent the oil water
separator and to discharge oily bilge waste overboard.  The pipe
was cut into small pieces and placed in a dumpster in Miami,
Florida, on October 29, 1994.  The bypass pipe was removed and
destroyed because crew members of RCCL's cruise ship believed that
the Coast Guard had not discovered its true purpose and intended to
prevent the Coast Guard from making this discovery when the
agency's investigation continued in Miami."




	"The criminal conviction of RCCL will send a firm message that
should ripple throughout the shipping industry.  It again shows
that the United States has and will continue to prosecute those
individuals and companies who thumb their noses at our nation's
environmental laws and contaminate one of our national treasures -
the ocean," said Guillermo Gil, U.S. Attorney for the District of
Puerto Rico.




	Before U.S. District Court Judge Donald Middlebrooks in Miami,
RCCL will pay a $1 million criminal fine and plead guilty to
presenting a false oil record book for the "Nordic Empress" cruise
ship during a Coast Guard pollution investigation in 1993.  Like
other RCCL cruise ships, the Nordic Empress was equipped with a
bypass pipe that circumvented the oil water separator, a required
pollution prevention device.  When the Coast Guard boarded the ship
to investigate, it was presented with a false log that omitted some
oil discharges and misrepresented others.




	"The criminal conviction of Royal Caribbean sets an important

precedent that foreign flag vessels cannot lie with impunity and
immunity in our ports and waters," said Thomas E. Scott, U.S.
Attorney for the Southern District of Florida.  RCCL's claim of
immunity from prosecution based on international law was rejected
by the courts in San Juan and Miami.  "It is only appropriate that
in celebrating 1998 as the 'International Year of the Oceans' that
the United States would uphold the internationally accepted rules
prohibiting this company's lawless actions," added Mr. Scott. 




	"The Coast Guard relies on a combination of prevention,
enforcement and response to carry out its environmental protection

mission.  Vigorous prosecution of flagrant violators is essential
to ensure full compliance with the law," said Rear Admiral Norman
Saunders, Commander of the 7th Coast Guard District which includes
both Puerto Rico and Florida.




	FBI Assistant Director Thomas J. Pickard added "The FBI is
pleased to have been a participant in the joint investigation into
violations of the Clean Water Act and related illegal activities of
Royal Caribbean. This case has demonstrated the commitment of all
agencies concerned to protect the waterways of the United States
and to bring to justice those flagrant violators of this country's
environmental laws."




	Incorporated in Liberia and headquartered in Miami, RCCL now
operates more than 10 cruise ships with over 130 ports of call on
five continents.  Major U.S. ports include New York, Miami, San
Juan, St. Thomas, Los Angeles and Juneau, Alaska.




	The investigation required the collective efforts of the U.S.
Coast Guard's Marine Safety Offices in San Juan and Miami, Criminal
Investigative Service, Marine Safety Laboratory, Office of Chief
Counsel and 7th District Legal Office in Miami; the FBI field
offices in San Juan and Miami; and the EPA Criminal Investigative
Division.  Assistance was provided by the FBI Special Projects
Unit, the Military Sealift Command and National Oceanographic and
Atmospheric Administration. 




	All criminal fines are subject to court approval.




	Attached are excerpts from a statement by RCCL President Jack
Williams.  The statement was filed as part of the plea agreement.







ROYAL CARIBBEAN FACT SHEET





	As part of the plea agreement, RCCL President Jack Williams

signed a detailed eight page statement concerning his company's
criminal conduct.  According to the statement:




*	RCCL discharged oil contaminated bilge waste, including
harmful quantities of oil, from RCCL cruise ships by using
equipment and procedures that bypassed the oil water
separator.  RCCL cruise ships were equipped with bypass pipes
that circumvented the oil water separator.  Bypass pipes were
installed by RCCL and crew members were instructed on their
use.




*	RCCL maintained, used, and presented for inspection by the
U.S. Coast Guard, oil record books for RCCL cruise ships which
contained material false statements and from which other
material information was omitted, for the purpose of
concealing from the U.S. Coast Guard the bypassing, improper
use, and malfunction of the oil water separator, and the
overboard discharge of oil contaminated bilge waste.




*	RCCL concealed and covered up the bypassing, improper use, and
malfunction of the oil water separator on board RCCL cruise
ships from the U.S. Coast Guard during inspections in U.S.
ports.  RCCL's cruise ships were inspected by the U.S. Coast
Guard at least quarterly in the United States.  During certain
inspections, RCCL failed to disclose that the separator was
not used or inoperable.  In some instances, bypass pipes were
removed just prior to the Coast Guard inspection and false
entries were made in the ship's oil record book.




*	RCCL avoided expenses and commitment of other resources
associated with regular maintenance of the oil water
separators, replacement of membranes and other spare parts,
and offloading of oil contaminated bilge waste in port. 
Membranes for the oil water separator on some RCCL cruise
ships, such as the Sovereign of the Seas, cost approximately
$10,000.00 for a single set of membranes (consisting of four
membranes).  While these membranes were usually changed
between 0 and 1 time each year prior to the government's
investigation, RCCL now finds it necessary to replace this
type of membrane between 5 and 10 times each year per cruise
ship using this design.  Similarly, where oily bilge waste was
offloaded infrequently in port prior to the government's
investigation, RCCL now frequently offloads large quantities
of bilge waste from some of its cruise ships, including at
times more than 100,000 gallons from certain ships each year.

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