Houston-Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals Inc., a subsidiary of Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP, announced Aug. 13 that it has settled with the U.S. Attorney’s office in Oregon and the Department of Justice and paid a $156,000 fine over a matter involving a former employee improperly disposing of potash into the Pacific Ocean because it had become wet and couldn’t be used commercially. The incident occurred in August 2003 when the employee made arrangements to have a customer’s shipment of potash improperly disposed of at sea without a permit. Press reports said the Justice Department complaint stated that a Kinder Morgan Bulk Terminals cargo ship dumped 160 metric tons of water-damaged potash into the Pacific near Portland. The complaint alleged one of the company’s night supervisors paid a ship captain $1,250 to load the potash and dump it. The story quoted an EPA official as stating, “It’s hard to imagine a clearer violation of the Ocean Dumping Act. Intentionally using the ocean as a garbage can for off-spec potash is not only morally wrong, it’s a crime.” The statement issued from Houston said the company entered a plea to a criminal violation of the Ocean Dumping Act and will pay a $156,000 fine and make an $84,000 community service payment to the Oregon Governor’s Fund for the Environment. It also stated the company initially announced this matter was under investigation in 2004, fully cooperated with the government’s investigation, and promptly adopted measures at the terminal to avoid future incidents of this nature. As part of the settlement, the government and the company acknowledged in a joint factual statement filed with the court that no harm was done to the environment, that the former employee’s actions constituted a violation of company policy, that the company did not benefit financially from the incident, and that no Kinder Morgan personnel outside of the terminal either approved or had any knowledge of the former employee’s arrangements.
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