Prairieville man pleads guilty to violating Clean Water Act

NEW ORLEANS — A Prairieville man has pleaded guilty to one count of violating the Clean Water Act when he directed workers cleaning up a crew boat to discharge oily waste water into the Mississippi River in 2008, prosecutors said Thursday.

Theofilo “Phil” Dagsaan, 42, faces up to one year in prison and a fine, prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Orleans said in a news release.

Dagsaan entered his plea before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sally Shushan on Tuesday in U.S. District Court in New Orleans and his sentencing has been set for July 19, prosecutors said.

Dagsaan was responsible for managing the captains and crew of boats working from the Grandview Launch on the Mississippi, according to an unsigned factual basis provided by prosecutors Thursday.

The factual basis only identifies the owner of the launch as Company A, based in Harahan.

The website of Harahan-based Belle Chasse Marine Transport Inc. says the company owns the launch, which is located in Vacherie in St. James Parish.

Dagsaan also was responsible for directing ship maintenance and making sure a 1,000-gallon slop tank that stored oily wastewater from ships was regularly vacuumed out, the factual basis says.

On April 8, 2008, Dagsaan instructed crew members cleaning up the engine rooms of a small crew boat to discharge bilge and engine waste water into the Mississippi. The slop tank that would normally store the waste water was full, the factual basis says.

Dagsaan told the workers to pump the bilge down until they saw a sheen on the water and then stop immediately, the factual basis says.