Search

The article focuses on the guilty plea of Fleet Management Ltd., operator of the MV Cosco Busan containership when it collided with the Oakland Bridge and spilled 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay, California in November 2007. It reportedly acknowledged violating the US Clean Water Act and Migratory Bird Treaty Act, making false statements and obstructing justice. Fleet's US $10 million penalty, $2 million of which will support marine projects, is also noted.

The article reports that the request of Fleet Management Ltd. for an emergency appeal of a ruling that would require it to pay a fine of up to US$40 million once it pleads guilty to misdemeanor charges related to a 2007 oil spill in San Francisco Bay, California, has been rejected by the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Fleet Management is being required to issue its guilty plea under a revised indictment which would lead to higher amount of fines. The oil spill has released around 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel.

The article reports on the guilty plea of John Cota, the pilot of MV Cosco Busan, to violations of the U.S. Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act. In November 2007, his ship spilled an estimated 54,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay, California when it sideswiped a protective fender around a San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge support in heavy fog. This led to the breaching of the vessel's fuel tanks.