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Alaska prosecutors Thursday filed criminal charges against Greenpeace, saying the activist group broke environmental laws by not submitting oil spill prevention documents before its ship entered state waters.

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"They had no plan to show they were capable of responding to (an oil spill), they had no way to show they were financially responsible for paying the cost," Morones said. "You'd think that they'd be out in front of this."

State law requires a non-tank vessel larger than 400 gross tons to file an oil spill response plan application five days before entering state waters.

Prosecutors filed charges against Greenpeace, Arctic Sunrise Capt. Arne Sorenson and the ship's agent, Willem Jan Beekman. The criminal negligence charges carry a maximum sentence of a year in prison and a $10,000 fine for an individual and $200,000 for an organization.