By Ari Burak
March 17, 2008
Federal authorities today charged the pilot of the 900-foot container ship that struck the Bay Bridge in November, disgorging thousands of gallons of toxic bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay, with misdemeanor violations of the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act.
The 65,000-ton Cosco Busan struck a protective fender at the base of the Bay Bridge in dense fog on the morning of Nov. 7, opening a gash in the ship’s side that released approximately 54,000 gallons of fuel into the bay, nearly 20,000 gallons of which was ultimately recovered, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The spill temporarily closed beaches throughout the Bay Area, killed thousands of birds and damaged the area’s fishing industry.
According to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Department of Justice in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, John Joseph Cota “failed to pilot a collision-free course and failed to adequately review the proposed course with the Captain and crew on official navigational charts.”
Cota was licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard and by the state of California as a bar pilot, and was a member of the San Francisco Bar Pilots and worked in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1981, the DOJ reported.
“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. According to the criminal information, these failures led to the Cosco Busan striking the bridge and spilling the oil,” a DOJ statement read.
Cota’s attorney Jeff Bornstein today blasted the charges as “regrettable and unfortunate.”
“Why is the government criminalizing this incident?” Bornstein asked, citing an ongoing federal investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board that has not yet identified the “chain of errors and causes” of the spill, he said.
“Charging anyone at this time is premature,” Bornstein argued.
Bornstein described his client as “a qualified, experienced pilot” who grew up in San Francisco, and who “cares deeply about the San Francisco Bay and its ecosystem and is deeply distressed about what happened.”
He added that Cota is cooperating fully with the federal investigation.
“We strongly believe that once all of the evidence is heard, a jury will find in Capt. Cota’s favor,” Bornstein stated.
An estimated 2,000 birds perished due to the oil spill, among them Brown Pelicans, a federally endangered species, Marbled Murrelets, federally threatened and endangered in California, and Western Grebes, according to the DOJ.
The maximum penalty for misdemeanor violation of the Clean Water Act is a year in prison and a $100,000 fine, and the maximum for misdemeanor violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act is six months in prison and a $15,000 fine, according to the DOJ.
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