Tanker pilot charged in San Fran Bay spill

SAN FRANCISCO, March 17 (UPI) -- The pilot of the ship that struck the San Francisco Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of oil was charged Monday, the U.S. Justice Department said.

John Joseph Cota, the pilot of the 65,131-ton container ship Cosco Busan was charged with violating the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, Ronald Tenpas, assistant attorney general for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, and Joseph P. Russoniello, U.S. attorney for the Northern District of California, said in a news release.

Filed in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, the charges allege Cota's negligence resulted in the Nov. 7, 2007, discharge of about 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil from the Cosco Busan, violating the Clean Water Act. His actions, from failing to review a proposed course to failure to use the ship's radar, were outlined in the criminal information.

Because of the discharge, about 2,000 birds died, including brown pelicans, marbled murrelets and western grebes. The brown pelican is a federally endangered species and the marbled murrelet is a federally threatened species and an endangered species under California law.