BOSTON (AP) – A tugboat pilot was charged Tuesday with allowing a barge to drift off course and spill 98,000 gallons of fuel oil into a bay off the Massachusetts coast two years ago.

Franklin Robert Hill, 53, faces up to 18 months in prison if convicted of violating the Clean Water Act and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan said.

On April 27, 2003, Hill was the mate on a tugboat that was pulling a barge into the Cape Cod Canal when it went off course onto rocky shoals. The tugboat and barge hit a rock outcropping, ripping a 12-foot hole in the bottom of the barge and rupturing one of its 10 oil tanks.

The spill in Buzzards Bay killed hundreds of birds and shut down shellfish beds, affecting nearly 90 miles of coastline in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.

Prosecutors said Hill was responsible for navigating and piloting the boat at the time of the spill.

Hill allegedly left the helm unattended to work at the stern of the boat. He also failed to monitor the radio and missed a warning issued by another vessel that his boat was entering a shallow part of the bay, prosecutors said.

Hill and the tugboat’s captain, Milan LeDuc, were fired by the boat’s owner, Bouchard Transportation Co. LeDuc was off duty at the time of the spill and has not been charged.

In November, Bouchard Transportation pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Water Act and agreed to pay a record $10 million fine.

The cleanup effort will end up costing tens of millions of dollars, prosecutors said.

“The long-term impact from the release of this oil, in terms of marine life, the bird population and the overall ecology of Buzzards Bay, will not be known for several years,” according to court papers.

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