FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                   ENR
WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1994                                 (202) 616-0189
                                                         TDD (202) 514-1888

      OFFICIAL WITH CINCINNATI-BASED M/G TRANSPORT SERVICES IS FIRST
                           EVER TO PLEAD GUILTY
                       TO POLLUTING INLAND WATERWAYS


     WASHINGTON, D.C. -- In the first Clean Water Act guilty plea
involving pollution from a vessel on an inland waterway, a port
official with the Cincinnati-based M/G Transport Services has
admitted liability for the dumping of plastic, glass and metal
overboard from his company's tugboats into the Ohio River, the
Department of Justice announced today.  Roger Williamson, port
engineer in the Paducah, KY office of M/G Transport Services,
Inc., who supervises operation of the company's towboats, faces
up to one year's imprisonment and a fine of $100,000 for his
actions.

     "This guilty plea should put all vessel operators on notice
that pollution from vessels operating on the nation's rivers will
not be tolerated," said Lois J. Schiffer, Assistant Attorney
General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, who
made the announcement with Edmund A. Sargus, Jr., the United
States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio.
                                  (MORE)
     According to the terms of the plea agreement filed today in
the U.S. District Court in Cincinnati, Williamson knew or should
have known that M/G Transport Services, Inc. was discharging
pollutants into the Ohio, Mississippi and other rivers of the
United States from January, 1992 to February, 1993.

     Williamson's duties as Port Engineer for M/G Transport
Services included arranging for the proper disposal of pollutants
generated on the company's towboats.  The Plea Agreement revealed
that there were few invoices indicating proper waste disposal
from the towboats -- far fewer than the number that would have
been necessary to account for the volume of waste known to have
been generated on the boats.  The Agreement described the number
of invoices as "grossly insufficient."

     Sargus and Schiffer commended Special Agents from the
Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Transportation
and the Coast Guard for their investigation of this case.
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94-726