The company has also agreed to cease all molasses operation in Hawaii as well as pay for removing its molasses tanks and any remaining molasses. About 1,400 tons of molasses leaked into the harbor in September 2013 killing fish and marine life. The settlement includes a combination of cash, restoration and environmental funding.
Matson will pay Hawaiian government $5.9 million towards re-growing a coral damaged in the spill and reimbursing the state for its cleanup efforts. The company will also provide a contribution to the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s World Conservation Congress.
Estimates of the cost related to closing its molasses operations range between $5.5 million and $9.5 million. It is expected that Matson will spent about $15 million in settlement costs.
Earlier this year, Matson Terminals plead guilty to federal criminal charges for illegally releasing molasses into the harbor and paid fines and restitution totaling $1 million, which include $600K that went to the Waikiki Aquarium and Sustainability Coastlines of Hawaii.
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(CNN) A
shipping company will pay Hawaii more than $15 million to settle a
spill that put 233,000 gallons of molasses into Honolulu Harbor in 2013.
The
$15.4 million settlement -- a combination of cash, restoration and
funding of environmental programs -- from Matson Navigation Company will
reimburse Hawaii for costs related to cleaning up the harbor, regrow a
coral nursery to replace coral damaged or destroyed by the spill, remove
a molasses tank facility and support an upcoming international
environmental conference.
The September
2013 spill occurred when a Matson ship, bound for the West coast, was
being loaded with 1,600 tons of molasses. But a leak in a pipeline to
the ship spewed the sticky stuff into the water, killing large amounts
of coral and fish.
Shortly after the spill, a diver shot video of the mess on the ocean floor, where the heavy liquid settled.
"I
didn't know so many creatures were down there before, but they're all
dead, and they're all laying across the bottom," said Roger White of
Cool Blue Diving.
Harbor fights to recover
"This
is one of the largest settlements for an environmental violation in
Hawaii's history," said state Attorney General Doug Chin. "The resources
made available as part of this settlement will now begin to restore
coral and fund programs to assist with restoring aquatic life."
Fish
returned to Honolulu Harbor within weeks of the spill, but the damage
to coral will be much more long-lasting, said Kekoa Kaluhiwa, first
deputy with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
A
"damage assessment showed that some of the coral killed in the molasses
spill can take hundreds of years to grow and are irreplaceable,"
Kaluhiwa said. "We are pleased with the scope and severity of this
settlement and believe that the resources it provides will help with our
future restoration planning."
Matson
pleaded guilty in October 2014 to two federal misdemeanor charges and
agreed to pay $400,000 in fines and $600,000 in restitution.
In
the spill's aftermath, Hawaii has tightened up inspection and
maintenance requirements for pipelines, said Ford Fuchigami, director of
the Hawaii Department of Transportation.