Environmental Matters in the Commonwealth of Kentucky

A Kentucky federal jury convicted a Louisiana barge company and three workers of one count each of aiding and abetting the discharge of a pollutant from a vessel into the Ohio River.   The barge released benzene, a cancer-causing chemical, into the Ohio River and did not notify the U.S. Coast Guard. The jury convicted Canal Barge Company of Belle Chasse, La.; Paul D. Barnes, 50, of Belle Chasse; Jeffrey A. Scarborough, 49, of Mendenhall, Miss.; and Randolph Martin, 53, of Atmore, Ala., on March 21, 2008-03-26.   Barnes works for Canal Barge as a port captain. Scarborough and Martin are employed by Canal Barge as captains.  An attorney for the company said that the convictions will be appealed to the U.S. Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati, Ohio.