A drunken captain who dumped hundreds of gallons of heating oil into the East River last March worked for the company that owned the barge at the center of yesterday’s Staten Island inferno.
Barge Capt. Robert Lee Preston, 43, of Picayune, Miss. – who worked for Hicksville, L.I.-based Bouchard Transportation – pleaded guilty last September to a felony charge of recklessly endangering public health, safety or the environment.
Bouchard – which owned the barge that exploded – paid a $75,000 civil penalty and was fined $15,000. Calls for comment were not immediately returned.