Marblehead’s Rockmore reaches agreement over illegal raw sewage dumping

MARBLEHEAD – An agreement has been reached between the U.S. Attorney’s Office and a Marblehead boat company that admitted it dumped raw sewage directly into North Shore waters on two occasions in August 2006.The Rockmore Company, Inc. will now have to dish out more than $300,000 in fines, which includes $225,000 in criminal fines, $75,000 in a “community service payment” to the Massachusetts Environmental Trust to be used to fund water quality projects in the area and $250 for a mandatory special assessment.The company will be on probation for three years, during which time it must adhere to strict sewage disposal guidelines. It was also ordered to issue a full-page apology in The Salem News, The New Bedford Standard-Times and The Cape Cod Times, saying:”We, The Rockmore Company, sincerely apologize for contaminating the coastal waterways of Massachusetts. Our business operations include ferry service along the North Shore aboard the Salem-based P/V Hannah Glover and a lunch and dinner barge in Salem Harbor called the P/V Rockmore. Our company has discharged human waste directly into coastal Massachusetts waters. For these actions, we have paid a steep fine and have pleaded guilty to criminal charges. We are sorry.”As part of the agreement, the U.S. District Attorney’s office has agreed to not prosecute the Rockmore Company for any other crimes in addition to those that relate to the subject matter of the investigation.The Rockmore’s president, Peter Noyes, will enter guilty pleas within a week of the execution of the plea agreement.The company pleaded guilty to two violations of the Rivers and Harbors Act, where the “Hannah Glover” pumped sewage overboard into the navigable waters of the United States.According to court documents, Rockmore, which operates two vessels, one a restaurant boat docked in Salem Harbor and the other a dinner cruise ship and ferry boat, knowingly refused to pay for shore-side pump services when its sewage tank overflowed and instead discharged sewage along the shoreline.The sewage tanks on board were reportedly not large enough to hold the waste generated in the course of a trip and deck hands would pump the excess waste directly overboard.In some cases, the waste from the “Rockmore,” the company’s boat restaurant docked in Salem Harbor, would be pumped onto the ‘Hannah Glover,’ the company’s ferry and dinner cruise vessel, for later dumping.The federal lawsuit goes on to say that from 2003 to 2005, the sewage tank on the Rockmore was allowed to overflow, causing seepage into the harbor as patrons continued to use the facilities.”The discharges took place at various locations along the Massachusetts coast, including in Salem Harbor and off beaches in Marblehead and Beverly, as well as in the Charles River near the Esplanade during the (Fourth of July) celebrations in 2002,” the federal lawsuit read.The Rockmore has denied allegations of dumping dating back to 1990 and the 2002 Boston Fourth of July celebration.