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12/23/2025
WT Staff
 Knowledge of an environmental crime? Give us a call at 877-52-WATER (877-529-2837), or email info@wtla.us
Wednesday Dec 24, 2025, 8 am CST
CrimeBox
Historic Conviction Fiscal Year 2015; Case ID# CR_2728 (Alabama)
An AB dock worker was instructed to push debris into the Mobile River. The employer was convicted of felony CWA offense, fined $200,000
The defendant in this case is a corporation operating out of the deep water Port of Mobile in Alabama. The business of this defendant includes loading and unloading (stevedoring) ocean-going cargo vessels and river barge vessels, handling all manner of bulk product, including coal and limestone.
According to the defendant's website, "...marine operations are powered by a fleet of 20 towing vessels and more than 400 dry bulk barges. The company's footprint includes the Tennessee-Tombigbee River system, Ohio River, Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, Illinois River, Arkansas River, Cumberland River, Black Warrior River, Tennessee River, and Mississippi River. CMT's Port of Mobile barge fleet accommodates over 250 barges and includes a barge cleaning and repair operation."
The website goes on to describe the stevedoring operation, with "two deep-draft terminals for loading and discharging a wide variety of dry bulk commodities including wood pellets, coal, pig iron, scrap metal, limestone, coke, ores, and mineral sands." Materials routinely and inevitably spill on the dock during loading/unloading. Proper care of the work site and compliance with the National Pollutant Discharge and Elimination System (NPDES) permit involves picking up the spilled solids for proper disposal, and discharging compliant effluent through one of four approved outfalls.
Eight storm drains normally keep the working area of the dock dry; rain runoff is filtered through a bed of gravel to catch solids before seeping out to the river below the dock. When the drains became clogged and rainwater backed up on the dock, the defendant did not clear the drains, rather continued to operate, loading and unloading vessels, spilling solid materials into the pooled water.
In September 2010, the defendant caused an employee to use a front-end loader to push pooled water and accumulated debris off the dock, directly into the Mobile River, in violation of the company's NPDES permit. According to the bill of information presented to Federal District Court in Alabama, the defendant's employees had been instructed to clear the dock of water and solids directly to the river in violation of the CWA on a regular basis.
The defendant was charged and plead guilty to felony violation of the CWA, sentenced to a federal fine and five years probation.
Federal Fine: $200,000; Probation: 60 months
See last week's CrimeBox, "NC Dept of Ag Director sentenced to home detention, found responsible for dairy manure spill contaminating the drinking water source for a million people ", here.
CrimeBox briefs are compiled from EPA Criminal Enforcement records.
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