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Title: Oyster company alleges New Carissa oil spill ruined crop

Source: http://www.registerguard.com/news/Wire/N0308OR--NewCarissa-Lawsui.html

March 22,2000

NORTH BEND, Ore. (AP) - Fuel oil that leaked from the broken hull of the New Carissa ruined hundreds of acres of oyster beds along the coast, the owners of Clausen Oyster Co. allege in a $3 million lawsuit. Filed in U.S. District Court in Eugene, the lawsuit claims that much of the 70,000 gallons of fuel oil spilled when the freighter ran aground Feb. 4, 1999, destroyed half of Clausen's 700-acre oyster bed in Coos Bay.

``The last year has been terrible,'' said Lilli Clausen, who owns the business with her husband, Max. ``Every day has been a challenge just to stay in business.''

The company says it will lose about 75 percent of its expected profits this year and the same amount next year. James Walsh, a San Francisco attorney representing Clausen, said the losses will exceed $3 million.

The company initially filed a $3 million claim with the National Pollution Fund Center, which oversees a $1 billion fund. But when the claim languished, it was withdrawn in favor of the lawsuit, Walsh said.

The Clausen claim was by far the largest among 72 individuals and companies filing claims for damage caused by the grounding of the ship and the fuel spill. The company is also the first to sue as a result of the incident.

The lawsuit names the ship and its registered owner, the Japanese company that operated the freighter and its insurer. It also names the ship's captain and Bill Milwee, a Portland-based salvage expert representing the owner and insurer.

Sixty-five of the claims have now been settled, according to Rockey Bowler, the Portland public relations company representing New Carissa interest. Among those are three claims from other Coos Bay oyster companies, for a total of $324,819.

Seven claims remain unresolved - the one from Clausen, three others totaling about $79,000, and three for which no amounts have been submitted, according to the firm.

The Clausens, who started their company in 1981 with a 14-foot rowboat and $400, initiated legal proceedings because New Carissa representatives have ``dragged their feet,'' he said.

The Clausens say their 1999 harvest plummeted to a value of about $500,000. They claim their biggest die-off was among large five- to six-inch oysters that are their biggest money-makers and are sold in markets around the world.

The lawsuit also alleges that the ship's representatives violated federal law requiring interim payment for valid pollution claims.

Brian Bell, of the public relations firm representing the New Carissa, denied the Clausens' claim that the high mortality among their oysters was caused by New Carissa oil.

Environmental experts hired by the ship's representative said the deaths were a natural phenomenon, caused by freezing weather in December 1998 that weakened the oysters, then heavy rain in early 1999 that changed the salinity of the water and killed the stressed creatures.

``We've been attempting to come to agreement for months,'' Bell said. ``Neither their accounting nor scientific data supports the claims they are seeking.''

Walsh, however, said the Clausens have evidence to support their position. The weather pattern described by Bell obviously occurred before without causing an oyster die-off, he said, and lesions found in the dead oysters were the result of oil contamination.

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-- (Dee360Degree@aol.com), March 22, 2000