Carnival cruiser company agrees to pay $ 20 million for resolving pollution violations in settlement today.

Carnival Corp. Monday concluded an agreement with federal prosecutors that the largest cruise company in the world had agreed to pay a $ 20 million fine, as its ships continued to pollute the oceans despite a previous criminal conviction to punish similar behavior. US District Chief Judge Patricia Seitz approved the agreement after Carnival Chairman of the Board Arnold Donald spoke to a court and acknowledged responsibility for the case. company for breach of probation arising from the previous environmental case.

"The company pleads guilty," Arnold said six times in a crowded audience, reuniting other top Carnival executives, including the company's president and Miami Heat owner, Micky Arison. "We recognize the shortcomings and I am here today to come up with a plan to fix them," Arnold said.

"The proof will be in the pudding, is not it?" the judge answered. "If you did not have all the environment, you would have nothing to sell."

Carnival has admitted to violating the terms of his sentence after a criminal conviction in 2016 for dumping hydrocarbon waste from his Princess Cruise Lines. Carnival was fined $ 40 million and sentenced to a five-year probation period, which affected the nine cruise lines with more than 100 vessels.

Today, Carnival has acknowledged that its vessels have committed environmental offenses, such as the dumping of "greywater" in prohibited places such as Glacier Bay National Park, in which Alaska, and the knowing refusal to unload plastic and food waste in the Bahamas, which is a serious problem. threat to marine life. The company also admitted to having falsified compliance documents and other administrative infractions, such as sending clean-up crews to its ships just before scheduled inspections.

At a previous hearing, Seitz had threatened to ban Carnival from berthing in US ports because of the violations and had stated that it could hold the leaders individually responsible for violations of the conditions. of probation. "What worries me is that senior management does not have skin in the game," Seitz said, adding that future violations could be punished by jail time and criminal fines. "My goal is to change the behavior of the accused."

As part of this transaction, Carnival had promised additional audits to verify violations, a restructuring of the company's training and compliance programs, a better system for reporting environmental violations to federal agencies. and national and waste management best practices. The agreement would also set the September 13 and October 9 deadlines to create an enhanced compliance plan and make other amendments, subject to fines of $ 1 million per day. if these deadlines are not respected.

If a second set of deadlines is not met, the fines could reach $ 10 million a day. Among other proposed changes, Carnival has reduced the use of plastic single-use items throughout its fleet and the creation of "tiger teams" to improve ship food and beverage systems and marine waste management.

Seitz retires later this year and entrusts the case to US District Judge Ursula Ungaro, who jointly chaired Monday's hearing. Three people who claimed to be victims of environmental violations committed by Carnival attended the hearing.

Their lawyer, Knoll Lowney, expressed skepticism that Carnival would keep its word this time. "Carnival has always shown its contempt for environmental laws and the law," he said. "Here we are again."