Two former supervisors at a Dutch Harbor seafood plant were sentenced Wednesday in federal court in Anchorage to jail time for Clean Air Act violations.

James Hampton, 45, the former assistant chief engineer for Westward Seafoods Inc., and Raul Morales, 53, former powerhouse supervisor, each faced a single Clean Air Act tampering charge.

The charges stemmed from the men falsifying data to cover up that they intentionally failed to operate air pollution systems.

Hampton was sentenced to 70 days; Morales was sentenced to 45 days, according to the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Alaska.

Both men were ordered to pay $1,000 fines and to undergo one year of supervised release.

Criminal Division chief Kevin Feldis said the cases are the first time he's aware of defendants being sentenced to jail for failing to operate pollution control equipment under the federal environmental act.

Westward is a subsidiary of Japan-based Maruha-Nichiro Holdings Inc., which maintains a headquarters in Seattle. It processes 254 million pounds of seafood each year.

Westward's Dutch Harbor facility produces its own electricity with three diesel-fueled generators, as well as steam for fish production using two diesel-fired steam generators.

The company holds a Clean Air Act permit, which requires the use of systems that saturate the air, decreasing the nitrogen dioxide emissions discharging through the plant's single smokestack, according to court records.

Those emissions-cutting systems were scarcely in use from August 2009 to August 2011, according to the charges against three men. Former Westward employee Bryan Beigh crafted a makeshift tool to make the dials on the systems' water gauges spin in an attempt to cover up the disuse.

Beigh was the first employee to be charged. He pleaded guilty to an identical charge on July 31 and will be sentenced on Nov. 25.

As powerhouse supervisor, Morales was responsible for all aspects of the plant's engine room, including the generators. Part of the job required reports that measured the saturation systems' water use, according to court records.

Instead of properly filling out reports, "Defendant Morales used a preprinted sheet which he would consult to determine, based on how long the engine had been operating on any particular day, how much water the (systems) would have used had it been in operation," the records say.

Hampton escorted an Environmental Protection Agency inspector around the facility in April 2011. Morales caught wind of the inspection beforehand and started turning on the systems; Hampton showed the inspector the systems and validated the daily logs despite knowing they were wrong, according to court records.

Hampton and Morales both pleaded guilty, opting out of trials.

The EPA did not receive any reports of harm to human beings as a result of the emissions at Westward during this period. Nitrogen dioxide can cause airway inflammation in otherwise healthy people and can cause or worsen symptoms of asthma, bronchitis and other respiratory diseases.

U.S. District Court Judge Ralph Beistline noted during the Wednesday hearings that both men knew what they were doing was illegal but went ahead with the scheme. He said the jail time should deter others from committing similar crimes, according to the U.S. Attorney's Office.