Rowan Companies Inc said on Tuesday it pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts of environmental violations related to one of its offshore drilling rigs and agreed to pay $9 million in fines and community payments.
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Rowan Companies Inc said on Tuesday it pleaded guilty in federal court to three felony counts of environmental violations related to one of its offshore drilling rigs and agreed to pay $9 million in fines and community payments.
It admitted discharging a pollutant, abrasive sandblast media, into the ocean, failing to report the discharge of waste hydraulic oil into the sea and dumping garbage in the area around its Rowan-Midland rig. It sold the rig this year.
As part of a plea agreement with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Rowan will be subject to unsupervised probation for two years, during which time it agreed that it will commit no further criminal violations of federal, state, or local laws or regulations.
The fine and community service payment were recognized as a charge to the company's fourth quarter earnings in 2006.
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