BEAUMONT, Texas, October 11, 2007 (ENS) - The oil and gas drilling corporation Rowan Companies, Inc. pleaded guilty Wednesday in federal court in Beaumont to three felonies in connection with the routine discharge of pollutants into the Gulf of Mexico from one of the firm's offshore drilling rigs.

Rowan Companies will pay a $7 million criminal fine, as well as community service payments totaling $1 million to five state government enforcement organizations for the purposes of environmental training, education, and enforcement coordination concerning violations of the Clean Water Act.

Rowan also provided a community service payment of $1 million to the National Marine Sanctuaries Foundation to be used for preservation and protection projects at the Flower Garden and Stetson Banks National Marine Sanctuary located in the Gulf of Mexico off the coasts of Texas and Louisiana.

"We will continue to use every available resource to prosecute these crimes which compromise our environment and our safety, including criminal fines and penalties," said U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas John Ratcliffe. "I am particularly pleased that part of the fines will go directly to the future protection and preservation of the Gulf of Mexico and the Texas and Louisiana coastline."

"The defendants sentenced today used the Gulf of Mexico as a dumping ground for oil and other waste," said Granta Nakayama, assistant administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's enforcement and compliance assurance program.

The investigation conducted by the U.S. EPA and U.S. Coast Guard revealed that between 2002 and 2004, employees on the rig Rowan-Midland routinely discharged waste hydraulic oil mixed with water, used paint, paint cans, and other pollutants and garbage into the Gulf of Mexico and failed to notify the government of the discharges in violation of the Clean Water Act and the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships.

The charges associated with these violations were filed in the Eastern District of Texas.

A Rowan rig in the Gulf of Mexico, not the Rowan-Midland. (Photo courtesy Rowan Companies)

In the Eastern District of Louisiana, Rowan pleaded guilty to one Clean Water Act felony count for discharging pollutants into the Sabine River as a result of sandblasting operations used to clean the rig in Port Fourchon in 2004.

"Today's events are in the best interests of Rowan, our stockholders, our employees, and all of our respective constituencies," said Rowan Companies chief executive Danny McNease, accepting the plea agreement.

"Rowan is committed to strict environmental compliance and to raising industry standards for environmental policies and procedures, said McNease. "These standards are an integral part of Rowan's daily operations and will continue to be so going forward."

The offshore drilling rig at issue, the Rowan-Midland, was sold in January to ATP Oil and Gas.

As a term of the company's probation, the court has ordered Rowan to reorganize its corporate structure to add an environmental division and to implement a comprehensive environmental compliance plan under which the company will commit that all of its rigs operating in U.S. waters will comply with U.S. and international environmental laws.

In cooperation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard, Rowan will develop new sandblasting techniques and help establish new industry standards for the minimization and containment of sandblasting debris over water, said Ronald Tenpas, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.

"Training is an essential element of Rowan's EMS, and we are committed to providing all Rowan employees with the necessary tools and knowledge needed to make environmental compliance, along with safety, a fundamental part of our work every day," McNease said. "We are serious about our commitment to being the best in the business from both an operational and an environmental standpoint.

Nine supervisory employees of Rowan who worked on the Rig Midland pleaded guilty to charges related to Rowan's violations.

Michael Freeman pleaded guilty to a felony violation of the Clean Water Act for knowingly discharging waste oil into U.S. waters and faces a maximum fine of $250,000, the exact amount to be determined by the court.

Four others each pleaded guilty to negligently discharging pollutants into U.S. waters in violation of the Clean Water Act in connection to the sandblasting operations and each agreed to pay a $2,500 fine.

Two men each pleaded guilty to a failure to report knowledge of a felony in connection with the illegal discharges of waste oil from the Rig Midland, and each agreed to pay $5,000 in criminal fines.

Two others each pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges for negligently discharging waste oil into U.S. waters in violation of the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay $2,500 in fines.

Rowan performs contract drilling of oil and gas wells in Lousiana, Texas, the Gulf of Mexico, the North Sea, and offshore eastern Canada. Its fleet consists of 21 jack-up rigs, one semi-submersible rig, and 14 land drilling rigs.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2007. All rights reserved.