A US federal judge is pushing Carnival Corporation executives to faster fix company's ocean pollution issues. At a hearing on Wednesday, October 2, in Miami federal court, US District Judge Patricia Seitz is expecting "more concrete action and fewer promises from Carnival." Corporation's Chairman (Micky Arison) and CEO (Arnold Donald) insisted that the company was doing a lot.
Earlier in 2019, Carnival Corporation admitted violating probation from a 2016 criminal pollution case as the company's ships continued to cause environmental harm. It was hit with a USD 20 million penalty, on top of a USD 40 million fine imposed in the original case.
Carnival acknowledged that in the years since its vessels have committed environmental crimes like dumping “grey water” in prohibited places including Alaska’s Glacier Bay NP and knowingly allowing the plastic to be discharged along with food waste in the Bahamas, that poses a severe threat to marine life.
The corporation admitted falsifying compliance documents and administrative violations like having cleanup teams visit its vessels just before scheduled inspections.