Marquette man accused in federal Clean Water Act indictment of polluting Lake Huron while chief engineer aboard one of Great Lakes biggest Tugboats “Victory” – arraigned today after USCG Probe
By Greg Peterson
News Director, Owner
Upper Peninsula Breaking News
(Marquette, MI) – A Marquette man, who served as chief engineer aboard one of the Great Lakes most powerful tugboats, was arranged on a federal indictment today on charges he knowingly violated the Clean Water Act after allegedly creating at least two oil slicks by dumping oily water from the bilge into Lake Huron, Upper Peninsula Breaking News has learned.
37 year-old Jeffrey W. Patrick of Marquette, the licensed chief engineer on the tugboat Victory between June 24 and July 22, 2014, was arraigned in federal court at Bay City, MI before U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris.
Patrick allegedly caused oil slicks over a six-week period from the middle of May to June 30, 2014 on Lake Huron, according to a felony indictment returned on Wednesday (May 25, 2016) by a federal grand jury sitting in Bay City.
Charges against Patrick were outlined in a nine-page federal criminal complaint made by USCG Special Agent of the Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) Christopher Whitmarsh while requesting an arrest warrant on March 23, 2016 before U.S. Magistrate Judge Morris at the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan in Bay City. Patrick is accused of the “discharge of oil in Lake Huron causing a film or sheen upon the water,” according to federal court records.
In fact, a USCG probe revealed that Patrick warned subordinates not to talk about his alleged criminal activity by replacing a broken oil collection system for the bilge with a faulty bypass that poured oil into Lake Huron. Chief Engineer Patrick allegedly warned the crew member “not to say anything to the Coast Guard” – even as the USCG was raiding the tugboat.
Photo of Tugboat Victory by Scott Best
Patrick allegedly “knowingly discharged and caused the discharge of oil into Lake Huron, a navigable water of the United States, in such quantities that cause a film or sheen upon the water,” stated Whitmarsh in the criminal complaint in explaining “probable cause” to have Patrick arrested. Charged with violating the U.S. Clean Water Act “by knowingly discharging of causing the discharge of oil into or upon the navigable waters of the United States in such quantities that the discharge caused a film or sheen upon the surface of the water.”
“A harmful quantity of oil is defined to include any amount which causes a visible sheen on the water,” the federal complaint states. Photographs taken by a Victory tugboat crew member “show a type of by-pass system which could be used to illegally discharge oily waste water overboard,” the criminal complaint states adding the photos show “the bypass equipment while it was set up an in use on the Victory.”
Photo of Tugboat Victory by Ken Bailey
Victory is a 498 gross ton towing vessel registered in the U.S. – aka a tugboat. The UTV Victory operates with the U.S. registered barge James L. Kuber. In criminal complaints, the USCG identifies the tugboat as the “Uninspected Towing Vessel (UTV)” Victory. In the engine department, the Victory has a licensed chief engineer assisted by a first assistant engineer,” a felony criminal complaint explained. “They are assisted by other crew members.”
A chief engineer “would be able to recognize that the by-pass system photographed by the crew member and seized by the (USCG) boarding team was not ordinarily present in the engine room,” the complain states. “A chief engineer would also understand that the function of the equipment as it was configured on the UTV Victory was to by-pass the OWS and it would result in contaminated oil being discharged into Lake Huron and elsewhere in the Great Lakes.”
“Since at least 2011, the UTV Victory has been engaged in international commercial maritime operations in the waters of the Great Lakes, including the transportation of cargo to U.S. Ports,” the complaint explains.
“On towing vessels such as the UTV Victory, bilge waste accumulates in bilge wells in the lowest part of the vessel,” the complaint states. “Bilge waste consists of water originating from spills and leaks from piping, tanks and from precipitation and waves.”
The bilge “waste becomes contaminated with oil, oil residue, lubrication fluids, and other liquids that leak or drip from engines or pipes and hoses that run throughout the ship,” according to the criminal complaint. To maintain safe levels, bilge holding tanks and wells “must be emptied periodically” that can be done two ways – discharged ashore to a waste reception facility or “pumped over the side of the ship after being processed through a properly functioning oily water separator (OWS).”
The chief engineer reports to the “master of the vessel (captain)” and the duties include the “overall operations of the engine department.” The chief engineer’s duties also include “supervising daily operations formulating and implementing engine department procedures; verifying that engine department systems, including the OWS system, are functioning properly; and ensuring that oily and other harmful or hazardous wastes are properly retained on board until disposed of properly,” the complaint states.
USCG Special Agent of the Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) Christopher Whitmarsh was notified by USCG Sector Sault Ste. Marie, MI “that an engine room crew member of the UTV Victory had reported to the USCG that unlawful discharges of oil waste had been made into Lake Huron by the Victory” while the vessel was northbound in Lake Huron near Presque Isle, MI. On June 30, 2014, a “USCG helicopter conducted an overflight of the area on Lake Huron, where the oily waste had reportedly occurred” and over the vessel “with no indication of oil product immediately around the vessel.”
“However, upon inspection of the Victory’s track line or wake, two sheens were observed on the waters of Lake Huron” by USCG helicopter personnel in U.S. waters.
“The first sheen was located approximately 38 nautical miles east of Cheboygan, MI, having an estimated size of 20 feet by 600 feet,” the complaint alleges. “The second sheen was located approximately 5 nautical miles east of Alpena, MI, having an estimated size of 50 feet by 50 feet.”
The USCG helicopter notified USCG CGIS Special Agent Whitmarsh about the sheens, so the USCG conducted an immediate inspection of the tugboat. “USCG personnel conducted a Port State Control Inspection of the Victory in Hay Lake on the St. Mary’s River,” Agent Whitmarsh stated in the criminal complaint.
A Victory crew member told USCG personnel “that a garden hose and large blue bucket or canister, equipped with an in-line valve, was used to transfer oily waste from the OWS to the cofferdams located under the vessel’s propulsion shafts,” the federal criminal complaint states. The crew member told the USCG that, as a result, the tugboat’s cofferdams were “contaminated with the oily waste” when they “were emptied into Lake Huron.”
“USCG inspectors and investigators” were given important information and a demonstration by the engine room worker including the storage location of “equipment used to transfer oily waste from the OSW to the cofferdams.” Agent Whitmarsh and other USCG officials got a better understanding about what happened when that same cooperating crew member put on a demonstration and “configured the equipment” to show the feds how the alleged crime occurred.
The demonstration showed “how the oily waste was transferred from the OSW into the by-pass system and ultimately discharged overboard,” Whitmarsh stated in the criminal complaint. The USCG seized that by-pass equipment.
That crew member, who is not identified in federal documents, met on July 1, 2014 with Agent Whitmarsh to be formally interviewed in the criminal investigation that uncovered numerous alleged events in which oil slicks were released from the tugboat. On “multiple occasions between mid-May and June 30, 2014” the crew member reported “seeing the equipment setup on the Victory(tugboat) to transfer oily waste from the OWS to the cofferdam.”
Chief Engineer Patrick was “looking at the OWS by-pass system setup and the oily water in the cofferdams in the week before the boarding” raid by the USCG on June 30, the crew member told Special Agent Whitmarsh. “The water in the cofferdams appeared to contain a sheen and oil droplets,” the crew member is quoted as saying the the federal criminal complaint.
Freeze from video by Jeff Thoreson youtube Tugboat Victory, and her barge James L. Kuber inbound Erie
The tug’s first assistant engineer, who was not identified in the criminal complaint and Patrick’s “immediate subordinate,” was allegedly witnessed “manually pumping overboard oily water from the cofferdams in June of 2014,” according to the crew member’s witness statement. The first assistant engineer allegedly told the crew member “that the OWS was not working properly.”
The first assistant engineer “explained that the crew had been decanting the bilge through a blue canister and absorbent diapers, and then discharging the remnant through the clean water cofferdams,” the criminal complaints quotes the crew member as saying.
“The crew member reported that this by-pass system was used to discharge oily waste from the Victory because the OWS was not working properly,” the complaint states.
The criminal complaint alleges there was a plan to cover up the origin of the oil slicks if the USCG ever raided the tug.
If the USCG ever boarded the tugboat for an inspection, first assistant engineer allegedly told the crew member “to turnoff the OWS and disassemble the canister and hoses of the by-pass system. Even as the USCG agents boarded the tug, Chief Engineer Jeffery Patrick allegedly warned the crew member “not to say anything to the Coast Guard.”
Related links:
Defense attorneys:
Alan A. Crawford
The Law Offices of Alan A. Crawford
Saginaw MI
989-355-1717 (office)
989-352-3141 (fax)
Karl Numinen
Numinen, DeForge & Mathieu, PC
Marquette, MI
http://numinenlaw.com
(906) 226−2580 (office)
(906) 226−2248 (fax)
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Federal Prosecutors:
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Michigan serves the 6.5 million people living in the eastern half of Michigan’s lower peninsula – with a branch office in Bay City
Barbara L. McQuade is United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/meet-us-attorney
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi
https://www.justice.gov/usao-edmi/branch-offices
U.S. Attorney Offices
101 First Street, Suite 200
Bay City, MI
48708
Barbara L. McQuade
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan
Asst. U.S. Attorney Janet L. Parker
989-895-5712
Asst. U.S. Attorney Craie F. Wininger
(810) 766-5177
(989) 766-5427 (fax)
U.S. Magistrate Judge Patricia T. Morris
Asst. U.S. Attorney Paul Lochner, Western District of Michigan
(906) 226-2500
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Tugboat/barge owner/operator:
Rand Logistics own the two self-unloading tug barges, Lewis J. Kuber and James L. Kuber
The vessels are operated by Grand River Navigation
Rand Logistics, Inc. Corporate Communications:
Annemarie Dobler
(212) 863-9429
http://www.randlogisticsinc.com
http://www.grnavigation.com/james-kuber.html
http://gcaptain.com/forum/professional-mariner-forum/8868-grand-river-navigation.html
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Oily Water Separator (OWS)
Wikipedia:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oily_water_separator_%28marine%29
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil%E2%80%93water_separator
http://www.marineinsight.com/tech/ows/how-to-operate-an-oily-water-separator-ows-on-ship/
http://www.marineinsight.com/tech/ows/oily-water-separator-construction-and-working
The purpose of shipboard oily water separator (OWS) is to separate oil and other contaminants that could be harmful for the oceans. They are most commonly found on board ships where they are used to separate oil from oily waste water such as bilge water before the waste water is discharged into the environment. These discharges of waste water must comply with the requirements laid out in Marpol 73/78.
Bilge water is a near-unavoidable product of shipboard operations. Oil leaks from running machinery, such as diesel generators, air compressors, and the main propulsion engine. Modern OWSs have alarms and automatic closure devices which are activated when the oil storage capacity of the oil water separator has been reached.
Creative commons photo of a Oily Water Separator (OWS) on a ship by Conklinj via wikipedia
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U.S. Clean Water Act of 1972/ Oil Pollution Act of 1990
The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 to protect fish and wildlife by ensuring water quality
http://www.americanrivers.org/initiatives/pollution/clean-water-act/
http://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Waters/Clean-Water-Act.aspx
http://www.boem.gov/Environmental-Stewardship/Environmental-Assessment/CWA/index.aspx
http://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html
Considering the Clean Water Act Conference Report convened by Duke University, the Water Environment Federation and the Johnson Foundation at Wingspread (2009).
The Clean Water Act: A Blueprint for Reform, Center for Progressive Reform (2008)
http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ce-Cr/Clean-Water-Act.html
https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/cwatxt.txt
The Clean Water Act was amended by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 following the devastation of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska.
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act
https://www.epa.gov/laws-regulations/history-clean-water-act
History of the Clean Water Act
EPA History: Clean Water Act: documents and other resources
http://www.epw.senate.gov/water.pdf
https://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/STATUTE-86/pdf/STATUTE-86-Pg816.pdf
https://www.fws.gov/laws/lawsdigest/FWATRPO.HTML
http://www.marinedefenders.com/commercial/key.php
Charges involve alleged violating the U.S. Clean Water Act “by knowingly discharging of causing the discharge of oil into or upon the navigable waters of the United States in such quantities that the discharge caused a film or sheen upon the surface of the water.”
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U.S. Coast Guard Coast Guard Investigative Service
http://www.uscg.mil/hq/cg2/cgis/personnel.asp
Special Agent of the Coast Guard Investigative Services (CGIS) Christopher Whitmarsh
http://www.winston.com/images/content/1/2/120.pdf
Judge imposes 15-month sentence on Filipino seaman whose fake fall triggered 40-hour search | AL.com
http://blog.al.com/live/2013/04/judge_imposes_15-month_sentenc_1.html
Tampa drug trial first test of federal semisub law | TBO.com
http://www.tbo.com/news/tampa-drug-trial-first-test-of-federal-semisub-law-87768
Report Fraud, Waste and Abuse in programs, grants, and contracts:
Department of Homeland Security
Office of the Inspector General
Office of Investigation
Attention: Hotline
245 Murray Dr. – Bldg. 410 – Stop 2600
Washington, DC 20528
(202) 254-4295 (fax)
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The U.S. Coast Guard
Ninth U.S. Coast Guard District
http://www.uscg.mil/d9/units.asp
U.S. Coast Guard Great Lakes
(216) 902-6020 (office)
(216) 310-2608 (cell)
Coast Guard Sector Sault Ste. Marie, MI
Coast Guard Station Alpena 25-foot response boat
Coast Guard Station St. Ignace, MI 45-foot response boat
Coast Guard Air Station Traverse City, MI Dolphin helicopter
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Lake Huron and Michigan at risk of major oil spills: Over 700 miles of shoreline in lakes Huron and Michigan are potentially vulnerable to oil spills if the pipeline beneath the Straits of Mackinac ruptures, according to a new University of Michigan computer-modeling study released in March 2016.
http://www.lakescientist.com/great-lakes-oil-spill-simulations
Lake Huron Oil Spill: Crews Secure Fuel On Sunken Barge Off Michigan Coast on Jul 20, 2012 by Casey Coates Danson
http://www.watershedcouncil.org/lake-huron.html
http://www.watershedcouncil.org/uploads/7/2/5/1/7251350/duncangrassbays_shoresurveyreport2013_webversion.pdf
https://www.uscg.mil/d9/cgcMackinaw/docs/CGCMackinawUnitInfoSheet.pdhttp://www.uscgnews.com/go/doc/4007/2588854/U-S-Coast-Guard-Alpena-Sheriff-s-Department-good-Samaritan-rescue-2-aboard-flooding-42-foot-sailboat-in-Lake-Huron
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Tugboat Victory info is on R.C. Groups, a hobby website, thanks to username Tregurtha1013 – who says he’s been on the Victory since 2008 when she was paired with the James L. Kuber and worked on the Steamer Reserve since 2006 thru her conversion into the James L. Kuber barge and is a Great Lakes sailor from Clinton Township, MI, who builds exact models of Great Lakes ships
http://www.rcgroups.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1337980
Photos of tugboat Victory by Scott Best and Ken Bailey
Freeze frames from video by Jeff Thoreson youtube video of the tugboat Victory, Kuber inbound Erie
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News Director, Owner
UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews@gmail.com
906-204-2249 (hm)
906-204-0848 (cell)
https://twitter.com/UPBreakingNews
https://www.facebook.com/UpperPeninsulaBreakingNews
https://www.youtube.com/UPBreakingNews
Upper Peninsula Breaking News by Greg Peterson 
