BOSTON - State and federal officials have announced a proposed settlement in a 14-year-old oil spill in Buzzards Bay.

The Cape Cod Times reports that under the proposal, Bouchard Transportation Company would have to pay more than $13 million for damages to migratory birds and their habitats.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and the states of Massachusetts and Rhode Island filed the settlement proposal in U.S. District Court.

If the court approves the proposal, the $13 million payment from Bouchard would be on top of a previously paid $6 million to the Natural Resource Damages Trustee Council for damage to shoreline resources, piping plovers, and damage recovery efforts.

In April of 2003, a Bouchard barge carrying 98 thousand gallons of oil struck rocks just south of Westport, emptying the oil into Buzzards Bay, causing damage to shorelines and wildlife.

More From WBSM-AM/AM 1420