US Settles With Offshore Drilling Company Over Gulf Pollution

The US government reached a settlement with a Transocean Ltd. unit in which the company will pay $507,000 in civil penalties for allegedly discharging pollutants from offshore vessels into the Gulf of Mexico.

The US, on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency, told the US District Court for the Southern District of Texas on Wednesday that vessels and other offshore oil and gas facilities owned or operated by Transocean Offshore Deepwater Drilling Inc. discharged deck drainage, sanitary waste, cooling water and other types of waste into the Gulf of Mexico—which is considered a water of the US.

The government claimed ...