Washington, USA: John Joseph Cota, a ship pilot, pleaded guilty on March 6 to negligently causing the discharge of approximately 200,630 litres of oil into San Francisco Bay in violation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a law enacted in the wake of the 'Exxon Valdez' disaster.
Mr Cota, who piloted the 'Cosco Busan' when it hit the San Francisco Bay Bridge on November 7, 2007, also pleaded guilty to violation of the Migratory Bird Treaty Act for the death of protected migratory birds.
The plea agreement contains factual admissions by Mr Cota including: "I acknowledge that my negligence was a proximate cause of the discharge of approximately 53,000 gallons (200,630 litres) of heavy fuel oil into San Francisco Bay."
During the voyage in poor visibility, Mr Cota gave the helm commands that crashed the 'Cosco Busan' into the fendering system at the base of the Delta tower of the San Francisco Bay Bridge.
The allision caused a gash measuring approximately 45 metres long by 3.5 metres high on the port side of the ship, puncturing two of the ship's fuel tanks and damaging the fendering system on the Delta tower of the bridge, and resulting in a significant environmental cleanup.
At least 2,000 migratory birds died, including brown pelicans, marbled murrelets and western grebes. In the US, the brown pelican is a federally endangered species and the marbled murrelet is a federally threatened species and an endangered species under California law.
As part of the plea agreement with Mr Cota, the government agreed to dismiss pending false statement charges relating to allegations that Mr Cota failed to disclose his medications on required Coast Guard forms in 2006 and 2007 necessary to maintain his license, and which the court ruled would be tried separately from the case involving the 'Cosco Busan' incident.
