Pilot charged by feds with negligence over Bay Area oil spill

The suspended Bay Area pilot of the COSCO Busan, which struck a San Francisco bridge in November and emptied 58,000 gallon of diesel fuel that fouled numerous beaches and killed thousands of birds, was formally charged Monday with misdemeanor violations of federal clean water and bird protection laws.

The U.S. Justice Department charged Capt. John Cota, the pilot guiding the vessel from the Port of Oakland on Nov. 7, 2007, was negligent in his piloting of the 65,131-ton container ship on a course taking the vessel under the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

Prosecutors charge that Cota, piloting the vessel in heavy fog, failed to pilot a collision free course and failed to adequately review the proposed course with the captain and crew on official navigational charts. Further, he failed to use the ship's radar as he approached the Bay Bridge, use positional fixes or verify the ship's position using official aids of navigation, throughout the voyage.? Cota was charged with one violation of the federal Clean Water Act and one violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, according to Ronald J. Tenpas, Assistant U.S. Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Joseph P. Russoniello, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.

According to the federal government, the fuel oil spill resulted in the death of about 2,000 birds including Brown Pelicans, Marbled Murrelets and Western Grebes. The Brown Pelican is listed by the federal government as an endangered species and the Marbled Murrelet is listed as both a federally threatened species and an endangered species under California law.

Cota faces up to one year in prison and a $100,000 fine for the misdemeanor CWA violation and up to six months in prison and a $15,000 fine for the misdemeanor MTBA violation. The U.S. Coast Guard Investigative Service, the EPA Criminal Investigation Division, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the California Department of Fish and Game, Office of Spill Prevention and Response continue with an ongoing investigation into the accident.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Stacey Geis of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of California, and David Joyce, Trial Attorney with the Justice Department's Environmental and Natural Resources Division, with the assistance of Ana Guerra, will prosecute the case.

Source: American Shipper