Regal Stone, Fleet Management to pay $44 million for 2007 oil spill damagesThe owners and operators responsible for a ship that spilled 53,000 gallons of oil in the San Francisco Bay in 2007 agreed on Monday to a $44 million settlement with federal, state and local agencies.The Cosco Busan’s collision with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay killed thousands of birds, hurt herring spawn, spoiled miles of shoreline habitat, and closed the bay and area beaches to recreation and fishing. The ship’s owner, Regal Stone, and operator, Fleet Management Ltd., agreed to the pay natural resource damages and penalties, and to reimburse government costs resulting from the spill.The high-profile incident riveted San Francisco Bay-area residents for months and follows criminal settlements. John J. Cota, the pilot of the Cosco Busan, pleaded guilty in 2009 and was sentenced to 10 months in prison for negligently causing the discharge and killing migratory birds.Fleet Management was fined $10 million last year after pleading guilty to a misdemeanor charge for water pollution and obstructing justice for a subsequent cover-up in which it falsified ship records after the crash. Fleet Management in 2010 was ordered to pay $10 million in criminal penalties, including $2 million for local environmental projects.Federal and state natural resource trustees estimate the spill killed 6,849 birds, impacted 14 to 29 percent of the herring spawn that winter, oiled 3,367 acres of shoreline habitat and resulted in the loss of more than 1 million recreational user days.The portion of the settlement for lost human uses of the shoreline and bay, $18.8 million, constitutes one of the largest use recoveries for any spill in the United States, according to the Department of Justice.

(source:www.joc.com)