Shipper Pleads Guilty in Harbor Crude Oil Spill
An Argentine shipping company pleaded guilty Thursday to charges stemming from a small crude oil spill in Los Angeles Harbor last spring.
Maruba S.C.A. pleaded no contest to violating the state’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act. A judge ordered the company to pay $14,623 in fines. About 88 gallons of thick crude oil was spilled into the harbor as the cargo ship “Centurion” was refueling April 17. Ship workers failed to properly monitor the refueling, prosecutors charged, and the ship’s tanks overflowed.
This was the first prosecution under a recent state law sought by the Los Angeles city attorney’s office that makes it a crime to knowingly or negligently cause an oil spill.
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