November 17th, 2010
02:45 PM ET

Company to pay $6 million for 2003 oil spill

The company that owned a barge that spilled 98,000 gallons of oil into a Massachusetts waterway has agreed to a $6 million civil settlement with the government.

Bouchard Transportation Co. will pay the U.S. Justice Department, Massachusetts and Rhode Island for its role in the spill in April 2003, the Justice Department announced.

A barge carrying No. 6 fuel oil from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to a power plant in Sandwich, Massachusetts, ran aground in Massachusetts' Buzzards Bay, rupturing the hull and spilling the oil, the Justice announcement said.

The oil marred nearly 100 miles of shoreline in the two states and killed hundreds of loons, sea ducks and other birds.

Bouchard earlier paid a $10 million fine in a criminal plea agreement. Private property owners also are suing the company, the Boston Herald reported.

"It’s great news," Mark Rasmussen, president of the Coalition for Buzzards Bay, told the Herald. "It’s been far too long in coming."

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Filed under: Animals • Courts • Environment • Massachusetts • Rhode Island
soundoff (5 Responses)
  1. DrDre

    I guess that's what we get... (For what?)... For trying to jack the lil homey for his grip.

    November 17, 2010 at 5:57 pm | Report abuse |
  2. God

    It's my Earth. Send me the check. I need to do some remodeling up here.

    November 18, 2010 at 2:30 am | Report abuse |
  3. Michele Gomis

    And this took SEVEN years to decide? How many years before they actually PAY?

    November 18, 2010 at 5:21 am | Report abuse |
  4. K jacktown michigan

    English please!

    November 18, 2010 at 10:31 am | Report abuse |
  5. Gulfcoastresident

    When our case comes up......you can keep the money....we just want a clean Gulf Of Mexico....nothing more...nothing less

    November 18, 2010 at 1:27 pm | Report abuse |
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