Lawmakers pass oil spill protection bill

BOSTON -- Lawmakers in Massachusetts have passed a bill to enhance protections against oil spills in Buzzards Bay.

The bill requires the state to assign an escort tug and local pilot to every incoming barge.

Last fall, the Coast Guard began requiring tug escorts and federally licensed pilots on all single-hulled barges. The state bill expands the requirement to double-hulled vessels.

About half of all oil shipments in the bay are in double-hulled barges.

The House approved the bill Tuesday after the Senate passed it earlier in the session. It now heads to Gov. Deval Patrick's desk.

The move to strengthen protections follows an April 2003 accident, when a single-hulled Bouchard Transportation barge spilled an estimated 98,000 gallons of oil into the bay.