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1.10.98
Owner of North Cape barge agrees to pay $9.5 million
 Most of the money will go to the state and federal governments and to the Nature Conservancy.
By TOM MOONEY and W. ZACHARY MALINOWSKI
Journal-Bulletin Staff Writers
PROVIDENCE
PROVIDENCE -- Eklof Marine Corp., the New York company that sent its oil-laiden barge North Cape and its tug plowing into a gale in January 1996, setting in motion Rhode Island's worst environmental disaster, agreed yesterday to pay $9.5 million in fines and compensation.
The penalties represent the third-largest ever imposed for an oil spill in the United States, said U.S. Attorney Sheldon Whitehouse, and "serve notice on oil polluters that our land and water are precious and that fouling them has a heavy price."
The state and federal governments will split the bulk of the money -- $7 million in fines -- while another $1.5 million will be donated to the Nature Conservancy for land preservation around Matunuck, where the toxic fuel washed ashore.
Also, as part of its agreement to plead guilty to misdemeanor charges of negligence, Eklof will spend $1 million upgrading safety and firefighting equipment aboard its fleet of 40 tugs and barges and will stop using unmanned, single-hulled barges in Rhode Island waters within three years.
If it fails to meet those conditions within three years, the company could face an additional $1-million fine.
The imposition of fines, coming yesterday in separate hearings in federal and state courtrooms, ended the criminal investigation into the oil spill.
However, closure of the criminal proceedings does not preclude any civil cases against Eklof. More than 600 fishermen and businesses hurt by the spill have claims pending against Eklof.
The spill began in the late hours of Jan. 18, 1996, after the tug, Scandia, towing the North Cape, caught fire. Unable to extinguish the fire, the tug's crew abandoned ship. High seas and near-hurricane force winds ran both vessels aground off Moonstone Beach. The barge's hull ruptured, spilling 828,000 gallons of home heating oil that eventually killed more than 12 million lobsters, hundreds of millions of clams and thousands of birds. The total scope of the environmental damage is still being assessed.
In October, Eklof, its former president Leslie Wallin and the tug's skipper, Gregory Aitken, pleaded guilty to negligence leading to the spill.
Eklof and Wallin admitted negligence in that the North Cape was missing an anchor windlass, a device needed to safely raise and lower the barge's 6,000-pound anchor. After removing the windlass for repairs two weeks before the spill, the company had "jury-rigged" the anchor system, making it more difficult to deploy and nearly impossible to retrieve.
They also admitted responsibility for the Scandia having inadequate firefighting equipment, including firefighting suits and a fire-suppression system which could have been activated remotely.
Aitken admitted negligence in ignoring winter storm warnings and setting sail with an inoperable anchor aboard the barge.
U.S. District Judge Mary M. Lisi yesterday fined both Wallin and Aitken but imposed no jail time.
Wallin, now director of Eklof Marine, was fined $100,000 and sentenced to three years' probation.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Ira Belkin told the court that Wallin, 50, of Mountainside, N.J., was responsible for overseeing Eklof's fleet and that the spill could have been averted had the Scandia been equipped with proper fire-suppression equipment.
"He took chances with the safety of the fleet to save $30,000," Belkin said of Wallin, referring to the cost of the fire-suppression system.
Wallin apologized for his role in the spill and the economic hardship it created for hundreds of fishermen.
"Hopefully, Eklof has compensated them for most, if not all of their losses," Wallin said.
Skipper Aitken, 44, of West Islip, N.Y., received two years' probation and a $10,000 fine, despite a request by the government to double the fine.
Aitken's lawyer, Thomas Russo, of New York City, successfully argued that the recommended fine of $20,000 was too stiff for a tugboat captain.
"Mr. Aitken is a working man, a blue-collar worker," Russo said. "He is a tugboat captain, not the captain of the Princess cruise lines."
Reading from a prepared statement, Aitken also apologized.
"I accept responsibility," he said. "I thought I could outrun the storm and that didn't work out. . . . I love the sea and I consider myself an environmentalist, believe it or not. I'm sorry and I can assure the court it's not going to happen again."
Neither Aitken nor Wallin were charged with state crimes.
In both federal and state hearings, Eklof president Douglas Eklof also apologized for the spill.
"We deeply regret this unfortunate incident," Eklof said. "We're sorry for the effect on the environment . . ., [and] we're doing everything in our power to prevent similar incidents in the future."
The spill prompted the General Assembly last year to pass tougher oil-transportation laws governing state waters.
Only two other spills have prompted larger penalties than the North Cape: the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska and a 1994 barge spill in Puerto Rico.
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