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LOUISIANA TOWING COMPANIES AND PRESIDENT SENTENCED

Release Date: 11/29/2001
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FOR RELEASE: THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 2001

LOUISIANA TOWING COMPANIES AND PRESIDENT SENTENCED

Luke C. Hester 202-564-7818/[email protected]


Glenn McKinney, President of McKinney Towing Inc.; McKinney Towing Inc.; McKinney Harbor Towing Inc.; and Slidell Towing Inc.; all of Baton Rouge, La., were sentenced on Nov. 21 for violating the Clean Water Act and the Oil Pollution Act by pumping a mixture of oil and water into the Mississippi River. McKinney Towing has agreed to pay a $400,000 fine and $80,000 in restitution to be equally divided by the Louisiana State Police Right to Know Fund and the Southern Environmental Enforcement Network. McKinney Towing will also be placed on probation for 24 months and will publish an apology in the Baton Rouge Advocate. The other two companies will each pay a $10,000 fine and also serve 24 months probation. Glenn McKinney will serve six months home confinement and pay a fine of $2,000. The defendants are engaged in the business of providing tugboat services on the Mississippi River. Between 1995 and 2000, the defendants knowingly allowed their tugboats to discharge oily bilge water into the river several times a week. None of the defendants had a permit for the discharges. The case was investigated by EPA’s Criminal Investigation Division, the U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the Louisiana State Police and the Baton Rouge Police Department with the assistance of EPA’s National Enforcement Investigations Center. It was prosecuted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Baton Rouge.

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