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The Coalition for Buzzards Bay Sues Federal Government for Violating Federal Alcohol Testing Law
May 11, 2005
CONTACT: Mark Rasmussen, Executive Director The Coalition for Buzzards Bay (508) 999-6363 x201
NEW BEDFORD, MA—In an effort to reduce the likelihood of another catastrophic oil spill in Buzzards Bay, The Coalition for Buzzards Bay joined the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in filing a counterclaim aimed at requiring the Coast Guard to toughen drug and alcohol testing of crew members involved in accidents. “In 1998, Congress directed the Coast Guard to establish procedures for alcohol testing of crew members within 2 hours of any serious marine accident. Seven years have passed and the Coast Guard still has not adopted a 2-hour testing rule, so we think it appropriate to ask the Court to require that action be taken,” said Jonathan Ettinger, Esq. a lawyer from the Boston firm Foley Hoag LLP, who is representing the Coalition. “If the Coast Guard had implemented existing federal laws to safeguard our waters from the threat of future oil spills, alcohol testing would have been required in the immediate aftermath of the Bouchard-120 Buzzards Bay oil spill,” said Susan Reid, Esq., Issues and Policy Director at The Coalition for Buzzards Bay. “In the case of the B-120 spill, alcohol testing was not performed until 18 hours after the barge grounded, which is far too late to be of any use in determining if alcohol was a factor.” The Coalition’s counterclaim was filed in connection with a pending federal lawsuit brought by the United States government against Massachusetts to challenge certain provisions of the state’s Oil Spill Prevention Act of 2004. Last month, the Court allowed the Coalition to intervene in that lawsuit and participate in defending the Massachusetts Oil Spill Prevention Act.
On April 27, 2003, Bouchard Barge-120 spilled more than 98,000 gallons of heavy No. 6 oil in Buzzards Bay, a spill that contaminated some 93 miles of shoreline, killed hundreds of birds, closed tens of thousands of acres of shellfish beds, and continues to be the subject of ongoing cleanup and natural resources damage assessment activities to this day. The B-120 barge was believed to have been traveling one-quarter mile outside the safe navigation channel when it struck ground and tore a gash through its hull. —###—
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