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Shipping company seeks to be shielded from $40 million fine releated to bay spill

Posted by: Maven on June 4, 2009 at 6:13 am

From the Contra Costa Times:

A Hong Kong shipping company has renewed a bid to a federal judge in San Francisco to plead guilty to two charges in the 2007 Cosco Busan oil spill, but has asked for the right to do so in a way that wouldn’t subject the company to potentially millions of dollars in fines.

Fleet Management Ltd. was the operator of the Cosco Busan, with responsibility for training and supervising the crew, at the time the ship spilled 53,000 gallons of oil into the San Francisco Bay on Nov. 7, 2007. The spill occurred after the container ship hit a protective fender of the Bay Bridge in heavy fog.

The company has told U.S. District Judge Susan Illston it wants to plead guilty to two misdemeanor charges of polluting the Bay and killing migratory birds. Illston will hold a hearing on the request on June 19. But in a new filing Monday, the company asked the judge to shield it from being subjected to up to $40 million in fines.

Read more from the Contra Costa Times by clicking here.

June 4, 2009 · Filed Under Bay Area

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