Ship pilot pulled off duty as fallout continues

Fallout from last month’s oil spill in San Francisco Bay is continuing for the Petaluma man at the helm of the ship that struck the Bay Bridge.

Bar pilot John Cota, a specialist trained in guiding large ships in and out of the bay waters, had his license temporarily suspended Nov. 30 following a hearing of the state Board of Pilot Commissioners, which oversees San Francisco Bay’s 60 bar pilots.

At Friday’s hearing in San Francisco, the board said the suspension “should not be viewed as a prejudgment of pilot error.” But Cota’s attorney, John Meadows, argued that the decision “shows severe prejudice to Captain Cota.”

Following the suspension, the board this week could file a formal “accusation of pilot negligence,” which could lead to a hearing in January to determine whether Cota loses his license permanently.

The federal government on Friday filed a civil lawsuit against several parties, including Cota, seeking unspecified payment for cleanup costs from the 58,000-gallon fuel-oil spill.

The Nov. 7 spill marred shorelines in several counties and killed more than 2,000 sea birds.

Cota was piloting the Chinese crew of the 900-foot container ship Cosco Busan when it struck a footing of the Bay Bridge in heavy fog that morning.

Through his attorney, Cota has said the radar aboard the ship failed and the ship’s captain gave him incorrect information when asked to show the bridge’s location on a electronic chart.

He told reporters after the hearing that “No one’s talked to anyone on the ship yet,” referring to the crew.

The San Francisco Bar Pilots Association, which was not named in the lawsuit, said the ships that their members navigate usually assume liability for the local pilot aboard.

“The ship typically indemnifies the pilot,” association president Peter McIsaac said. In the federal lawsuit, the owner and insurance carrier for the Cosco Busan were named as defendants along with Cota.

The bar pilots association does cover attorney’s fees when the license of a member is under review by the state, McIsaac said.

Cota, who is married to Petaluma City Councilmem-ber Teresa Barrett, has been re-assigned to administrative duties by the association while the fate of his license is under review.

McIsaac said he has not spoken with Cota since Friday’s hearing, but that “he was holding up OK the last time I spoke to him. Obviously, there’s a lot of stress here.”

(An Associated Press report was used in this story.)

Contact Corey Young at corey.young@arguscourier.com)