BOSTON (AP) – The owners of a barge that leaked 55,000 gallons of oil into Buzzards Bay last spring will plead guilty to two criminal charges and pay a record $10 million fine, under a plea agreement announced Monday.
Bouchard Transportation Co., based in Hicksville, N.Y., reached an agreement last week in the criminal investigation of the spill, which killed 450 birds, shut down thousands of acres of shellfish beds and affected nearly 90 miles of Massachusetts beaches and coastline.
The settlement is believed to be the largest environmental penalty in the state’s history.
The spill happened on April 27, 2003, when the “Evening Tide,” a tugboat owned and operated by Bouchard, veered off course and struck rocks.
The impact ripped a 12-foot hole in the bottom of the unpowered barge being towed by the tugboat, rupturing one of the barge’s 10 tanks containing oil. The barge was carrying more than four million gallons of No. 6 oil, a thick petroleum.
Bouchard President and Chief Executive Officer Morton Bouchard apologized in a statement released Monday.
The company has agreed to plead guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, said U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan.
The agreement calls for Bouchard to pay $9 million of the $10 million at the time of sentencing. The proceeds will be split – $7 million will go to the North American Wetlands Conservation Fund and $2 million to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
The final $1 million portion of the fine will be suspended and will be imposed only if Bouchard fails to comply with conditions of its three-year probation.
Bouchard is required to: hire a local pilot experienced with the waters of Buzzards Bay to guide its tugboats and barges; to correct operational deficiencies in its hiring process, training programs and evaluation system for mates and captains; to maintain radio communications with other vessel traffic at all times; and to place a crew member inside the wheelhouse at all times.
Bouchard has already spent more than $38 million on the cleanup, a figure that is expected to rise as scientists learn more about the long-term damage to wildlife.
The National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration is conducting its own probe of the spill and its aftermath, and the state Legislature is expected to take up new laws governing oil barge transportation next month.
No date has been set yet for the company to formally enter its plea.
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Editor’s Note: Denise Lavoie is a Boston-based reporter covering the courts and legal issues.
AP-ES-03-29-04 1558EST
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