Effects of Oil Disaster Will Be Felt for Years

In the early morning heavy fog of November 7, a 902-foot cargo ship collided with the wooden fender of the delta tower base of the Bay Bridge, spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the San Francisco Bay.

Oiled birds come to shore sick and exhausted, like this cormorant and duck in the Hoffmann Marsh channel next to the Bay Trail. Rescue efforts continued, but the previous, well-publicized, toll-free number for reporting oiled birds was shut down. San Francisco’s 311 system, which is able to handle oiled-bird calls, replaced the toll-free number with no notice and little publicity. Photo by Susan Schwartz of Friends of Five Creeks

By Lola Dvorak  
Published: December, 2007 

Initial reports from the U.S. Coast Guard indicated that the torn hull of the Cosco Busan leaked only 140 gallons of fuel, but within the first hour, the oil slick was one-third of a square mile, and fumes were closing down the San Francisco waterfront. The Coast Guard failed to acknowledge these early warning signs that the spill’s magnitude was much greater than initially reported, and did not warn the public, local officials or the state’s Oil Spill Prevention and Response agency that the largest vessel accident in over a decade had occurred until nearly 12 hours later.

In the days and weeks after the spill, the spill response agencies continued to mismanage cleanup efforts. The ship was moved with its 90-foot gash from the crash site at Treasure Island to Anchorage 7 for lightering, trailing a thick wake of oil. Because the spill was not contained early when it was still compact, toxic bunker fuel spread quickly throughout the Bay and out the Golden Gate, contaminating coastlines as far north as Point Reyes and as far south as Monterey Bay. Resources deployed by the ship’s owner, Regal Stone, in the days to come proved inadequate at best.

Thousands of Bay Area citizens flooded oil response hotlines and wildlife rehabilitation centers to find out how they could help and to report oil sightings or distressed wildlife. Due to safety precautions and a quagmire of bureaucratic regulations among local and federal governments, most offers of volunteer labor and donated supplies were turned down. Several citizen groups, frustrated by the delay, initiated guerrilla cleanups by buying their own safety equipment and arranging for hazardous waste pickups. These grassroots efforts motivated officials to develop a limited number of safety trainings and organized cleanups to harness the outpouring of volunteer energy. Over 1,500 volunteers were eventually trained and outfitted to handle the hazardous waste from the spill. The public’s involvement will remain critical to cleanup success, because small amounts of tar and oil will continue to wash up on shorelines in the upcoming weeks and months.

While the collision thankfully did not harm the Bay Bridge, its impact on the San Francisco Bay’s aquatic ecology will continue to grow in the upcoming months and years. Bunker fuel oil, the gooey byproduct from gasoline refining, is toxic to aquatic organisms even in small amounts, and as the winter bird migration picks up steam, thousands of birds will ingest contaminated fish and invertebrates.

Over two thousand birds have died so far; the International Bird Rescue Research Center estimates that as many as 100,000 more may die in the next few months. Oil coats birds’ feathers, making it hard to stay warm, and is poisonous when ingested. In addition to the resident seabirds and ducks such as surf scoters and western grebes, thousands of shorebirds are migrating south this time of year and depend on the Bay’s grassy wetlands and mudflats where oil cleanup is more difficult. The fall run of central valley Chinook salmon traveling inland and the December herring spawning season are also threatened.

The local commercial Dungeness crab season has been delayed as crabs are tested for oil contamination from the spill. Both the commercial crabbing and fishing industries have already filed class-action suits against the owner of the Cosco Busan to recover economic damages.

Officials at the local, state and federal level have pledged to investigate why the Cusco Busan accident happened in the first place and to improve communications and oil spill response. Senator Barbara Boxer, Congresswoman Ellen Tauscher and Berkeley Assemblywoman Loni Hancock have initiated legislative hearings on the government’s handling of the spill, and a criminal investigation has been launched by the National Transportation Safety Board. The Coast Guard is conducting an internal investigation, with a report promised within 90 days, but House Speaker Nancy Pelosi publicly doubted the Coast Guard’s impartiality at a field hearing last month.

In preparation for future oil spills, the public can participate in Hazardous Materials Operations trainings run by the Association of Bay Area Governments (http://www.abag.ca.gov). Assistance with native plant restoration and ongoing cleanups can help stabilize sensitive wetlands in the meantime. Wildlife will feel the impacts of the spill for months to come, even when the most obvious oil is cleaned up. As shorelines get re-oiled, concerned citizens should report oil sightings, particularly in areas that are hard to see from flyovers or motor boats, to (415) 398-9617. Report oiled or hurt wildlife to (415) 701-2311.

Local boaters who wash bunker fuel off their recreational boats or other watercraft may contribute to the spread of toxins throughout the Bay. Even in small amounts, the oil can be toxic to aquatic life, and cleaning solvents may also contain chemicals and other pollutants that can harm the environment. San Francisco Baykeeper, a local environmental watchdog group, has developed a guide to green cleaning (see sidebar) and has mobilized volunteers to walk the docks and spread the word to marinas and boaters in the aftermath of the Cosco Busan spill. To file a claim for oiled property, call (866) 442-9650.

The thick bunker fuel coalesced into large puddles that were deposited on shore as the tide dropped. Photo by Susan Schwartz of Friends of Five Creeks

Oil washes ashore at Albany Beach around sunset the day after the oil spill occurred. Photo by Susan Schwartz of Friends of Five Creeks