Settlement Reached in ’07 San Francisco Bay Spill

Federal and state officials say they’ve reached a settlement for the cleanup costs in the 2007 San Francisco Bay oil spill.

U.S. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, California Attorney General Kamala Harris and other officials plan to gather Monday afternoon to announce details of the settlement.

The spill happened on the foggy morning of Nov. 7, 2007, when the cargo ship Cosco Busan struck a tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. The collision spilled more than 53,000 gallons (200,620 liters) of fuel into the water, fouling the shoreline and killing wildlife.

The ship’s pilot, John Cota, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor pollution charges and got a 10-month prison sentence. The ship’s operator, Fleet Management of Hong Kong, pleaded guilty to a felony obstruction charge and two other counts and was fined $10 million.