New Orleans Steamboat Company and Employee Plead Guilty and Sentenced for Discharging Ballast Material into the Industrial Canal

NEW ORLEANS – United States Attorney Duane A. Evans announced that the NEW ORLEANS STEAMBOAT COMPANY (“NOSC”), plead guilty to a violation of the Clean Water Act (“CWA”), Title 33, United States Code, Section 1319 (c)(2)(A), in connection with a discharge of excess ballast material into the Industrial Canal in New Orleans in 2019. The maximum penalty for this violation is five years’ probation, up to a $50,000 fine or the greater of twice the gross gain to the defendant or twice the gross loss to any person under Title 18, United States Code, Section 3571 and a mandatory $400 special assessment fee.

According to court documents, NOSC admitted to discharging, without the knowledge of the Board of Directors, a quantity of a substance into a navigable water of the United States. The discharge took place on or around February 12, 2019, in the Inner Harbor Navigational Canal (“IHNC”), more commonly known as the Industrial Canal.

Additionally, MATT DOW (“DOW”), an NOSC employee, plead guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the CWA, Title 33, United States Code, Section 1319 (c)(2)(A), punishable by up to one year in jail, up to a $100,000 fine, up to one year of supervised release and a $25 mandatory special assessment fee.

The case was investigated by the Environmental Protection Agency’s Criminal Investigation Division, and the Department of Transportation’s Office of Inspector General. Assistant U.S. Attorney Carter K.D. Guice, Jr. of the General Crimes Unit is in charge of the prosecution.