OIL SPILL IN SAN FRANCISCO: POLLUTION GETS WORSE; PUBLIC HELP REQUESTED (pix)

[piesRsquare]

I hate the oil industry! The company that owns the ship is Hanjin Shipping.

All emphasis in the following articles was added by me.

:cry: :cry: :cry:

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Spill closes S.F. beaches; oil washes up on Marin Headlands

(11-08) 13:00 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- Heavy-duty bunker fuel oil from the 58,000 gallons that spilled from a container ship when it rammed the Bay Bridge has washed up on several San Francisco beaches and the Marin Headlands, officials said today.

Some 8,000 gallons of oil have been contained since Wednesday's accident, U.S. Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti said this morning. Large patches are still floating in the bay. Dozens of birds coated in the oil have been rescued from beaches stretching as far north as Stinson Beach. A handful have died.

Some officials say they expect the beach pollution to worsen early this afternoon as the tide rushes out of the Golden Gate. Along Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands, National Park Service ranger Robert Del Secco kept visitors away from the beach, which is covered in dark clumps of oil.

"This is nothing. What's around the corner at Point Bonita is the bulk (of the spill)," he said. "There are slicks all along the coast. I anticipate as the tide goes out it is going to hit beaches along the North Coast (on ocean side)."

Oil began leaking into the water after the 65,131-ton Cosco Busan, an 810-foot-long container ship, crashed into the base of a tower of the Bay Bridge's western span in heavy fog at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday.

It was the first time in memory that an oceangoing ship had run into the bridge, which did not suffer major damage.

Authorities have closed several beaches, including Baker Beach, China Beach, Crissy Field and Fort Point in San Francisco after oil washed up on them Wednesday night. Alcatraz Island, and Kirby Cove and Rodeo Beach on the coast of the Marin Headlands have also been closed because of the oil.

The pungent oil scent can be smelled around the Bay Area.

Chris Godley, emergency services manager for Marin County, said slicks had appeared in the water near the North Bay shoreline.

One slick, 50 yards long and 20 yards wide, was seen off Paradise Drive in Tiburon. Another was seen in Richardson Bay near Bayfront Park in Mill Valley, Godley said.

Representative from 13 agencies met this morning at Fort Mason to discuss the next steps.

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/08/BAD8T8PLU.DTL

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SF officials threaten legal action over oil spill

(11-08) 14:32 PST San Francisco - --Mayor Gavin Newsom said today the city will take legal action against the company or agency deemed responsible for the 58,000 gallons of oil that spilled into the bay after a container ship rammed into the Bay Bridge Wednesday.

Newsom and City Attorney Dennis Herrera also expressed frustration over incorrect information disseminated early on by the Coast Guard about the extent of the spill.

"We'll be doing everything to make sure that those who are responsible are held accountable and that the costs borne by this will be borne by the appropriate agency or agencies... or individuals or companies that are responsible," Newsom said.

The damage to city property is still being assessed, and local officials said they are working with federal and regional authorities on the cleanup.

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/08/BA66T8SUR.DTL

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Coast Guard asking for help finding injured wildlife, tracking spill

(11-08) 15:46 PST SAN FRANCISCO -- The Coast Guard is asking for the public's help with the oil spill that has fouled San Francisco Bay and local beaches.

No calls have been put out yet for volunteers, but that information will eventually be posted online at www.owcn.org. People interested in volunteering with the cleanup should not call any of the numbers, as the high level of calls has made it difficult to disseminate information, officials said today.

Residents can help authorities track the movement of the spill by calling the private cleanup company, O'Brien's Group of Southern California at [phone].

Report oiled wildlife at [phone].

Owners of damaged property can submit a claim by calling [phone].

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/08/BA51T8USI.DTL

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Pix:




















:cry: :cry: :cry:

[babylonsister]

1. Kick with sadness; what a mess. nt

[Disturbed]

3. I helped out the last time this happened.

A whole lot of wild life died & it was sad. A few were saved. The impact lasts for years underneath the sea. I will call to see if they need any help again.

[piesRsquare]

6. DON'T CALL

The article above requested that people NOT CALL...check the website given.

PLEASE DO NOT TIE UP THE LINES!

[TomInTib]

4. I can see a couple of slicks from my veranda.

The one off Paradise Drive is strange.

It just broke off from the main spill.

But it appears as if our town will spared.

[Turbineguy]

2. Coast Guard

http://www.uscgsanfrancisco.com/go/doctype/823/7683/

They have info and video as well.

[piesRsquare]

5. I Should Also Mention...(sometimes irony is cruel and maddening!!!)

The annual San Francisco Green Festival will be held this weekend, November 9-11, 2007 (Friday through Sunday) at the Concourse. Deepak Chopra will be speaking on Friday evening.

More info here: http://www.greenfestivals.org/content/view/626/281/

I went last year and will likely be going this year as well...it's pretty cool. DO NOT BRING A CREDIT CARD OR CHECKBOOK, AND BRING A LIMITED AMOUNT OF CASH: THE VENDOR AREA IS DANGEROUS TO THOSE OF US WITH IMPULSIVITY AND A TIGHT BUDGET! Organic fair trade cotton towels and sheets, high quality fair trade organic chocolate, hemp beverage and food products, organic cotton clothing, food food food, books---you name it!

It's super-easy to get to the Concourse in a green-friendly way. Take CalTrain to the end of the line (SF), and walk the rest of the way by going a couple blocks east, turn left at Brannan, and keep going until you hit 8th Street; the Concourse is at the corner of 8th and Brannan.

If any DU'ers would like to meet up at the Green Festival this weekend, shoot me a note.

[Pachamama]

18. The irony and message is not lost on me...combined with our planet in crisis, the economy in crisis

and oil shooting to over $98 a barrel and breaking the $100 barrier on its way way up, what just happened to our beautiful beautiful Bay and the wildlife here is a cry for help, a message a loud scream about what we are doing to our planet - to ourselves.

I just sat here watching the local news with tears in my eyes and a knot in my stomach...I just cannot describe my sadness about all going on around us and then to see this catastrophe in our neighborhood, our community....

A friend of mine who goes running along the water in Tiburon saw the gooey sludge along the shore and birds covered in it. They showed on the news dolphins swimming through it and seals in distress. They are saying that every animal that is found, represents about 10 others who will die at sea. Whatever this sludgey oil fuel is, its the worst of the worst.

:cry:

[malaise]

7. Good grief

What a mess.

[intheflow]

8. Oh, no!

:cry: K&R to get the numbers out to people who'll need them.

[piesRsquare]

9. Kick for San Francisco...n/t

[Mojorabbit]

10. Dont they ususally

put those booms or whatever they are called out to keep the oil from spreading?

[KoKo]

11. Paging Pelosi! ....Paging Diane Feinstein...this is YOUR COUNTRY...you've forgotten!

Paging...Paging....Does ANYONE HEAR US OUT HERE? :cry:

[Pachamama]

19. Pelosi and Feinstein - absent; Boxer is on it though....

Love me some Boxer....

Could really do with replacements for Pelosi and Feinstein....

[Triana]

12. Good God....

...this his horrible. I love SF Bay and those poor birds!

:cry:

[Duncan Grant]

13. 58,000 gallons = 1,055 fifty-five gallon drums.

This is bad. Very bad.

[Maestro]

14. Oh this enfuriates me!

I am so sorry for those affected and the poor animals that are affected. Damn, damn, damn! The ship hit the bridge and rips apart? What the hell? What about double hulls? A bridge support is capable of ripping the hull of a container ship? C'mon! How fast was the guy going? Visibility was low in the fog so he should have going slow and even so the hull is gashed like this? Oh feel for the environment there.

[Mnemosyne]

16. And why aren't there visible fog lights on the bridges?

Those poor creatures! :cry:

[Maestro]

29. No kidding.

But even if the fog was too thick to see the lights there is radar and if the captain was unsure, there needs to be protocol for avoiding this ocurrence in such an environmentally delicate area. He should have just stopped and put down anchor until the conditions were better. Is this not permissable? :shrug:

[Mnemosyne]

32. Can't cut that profit by stopping, even if it destroys

everything in the process.

And we know what a price the captain will pay, via the oil company. A raise? A bigger ship? A spot in the * regime? :crazy:

Totally inexcusable.

[hootinholler]

15. FYI Bunker fuel is about one step away from crude

It has the consistency of molasses.

It should be illegal to have the fuel tanks located next to the hull. Especially so in an estuary. When they're in interior space, this doesn't happen when Cap'n MudBank hits some rocks.

-Hoot

[Pachamama]

20. Friend of mine saw this "sludge" called Bunker fuel today along the shore...its like molasses and it

is everywhere....she saw birds coated in it....On the news they showed animals swimming through it...its truly, truly awful....

How can it be legal to have this stuff so close to the hull????

This is an environmental disaster in San Francisco and along our coast here....our beautiful bay area and coast.... :cry: and for what? A cargo ship full of shit from China?

[OzarkDem]

17. Tragic, unnecessary

why can't these people maintain their ships?

[piesRsquare]

21. Another kick for San Francisco

[piesRsquare]

22. Some Facts/Details

-Ship was a container ship (not an oil tanker)

-The ship was heading OUT of the bay (from Oakland)

-The ship is owned and operated by a Greek ship company and chartered to a Korean shipping company

-A San Francisco Bay Bar Pilot (John Cota, who has 25+ years experience) was navigating the ship

-The bar pilot and crew tested negative for alcohol; drug results will be available next week

[piesRsquare]

23. Bar Pilot on errant ship had several mishaps in past

Bar pilot on errant ship had several mishaps in past

Capt. John Cota, the veteran master mariner who was piloting the container ship Cosco Busan when it hit the Bay Bridge on Wednesday, has been involved in a number of ship-handling incidents and was reprimanded last year for an error in judgment when he ran a ship aground, state regulatory documents show.

Cota, 59, has been a bar pilot, guiding ships in and out of San Francisco Bay and its tributaries, for more than 25 years. Many mariners consider him an excellent ship handler.

But he has had four "incidents" involving an investigation by the Board of Pilot Commissioners in the past 14 years and has been "counseled" by pilot commission executives on several other occasions, documents show.

Capt. Patrick Moloney, executive director of the Pilot Commission for the Bays of San Francisco, San Pablo and Suisun, described Cota as a "very good pilot," but said his record of ship-handling incidents "is in the upper half for frequency."

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/09/MNIOT9411.DTL

[piesRsquare]

24. Response to fuel spill under Bay Bridge called "unusually slow"

Response to fuel spill under Bay Bridge called 'unusually slow'

11-08) 22:14 PST San Francisco --Emergency officials were pressured Thursday to explain why it took them hours to announce that 58,000 gallons of oil had leaked from a container ship that rammed the Bay Bridge on Wednesday - creating a slick that has contaminated beaches and injured hundreds of birds from Hunters Point to the Marin Headlands and out to the Farallon Islands.

San Francisco officials, frustrated that they weren't told immediately about the severity of the spill, threatened legal action against the company or agency responsible for the disaster. U.S. Sen. Barbara Boxer has called for scrutiny of the Coast Guard's response. Residents and environmental groups have become increasingly alarmed at the sprawling contamination - and what they called an anemic cleanup response taking place as late as Thursday night.

"Why did it take them so long to respond?" complained Mike Herz, founder of the San Francisco Baykeeper organization and chairman of U.S. Friends of the Earth. "Every oil spill I've ever seen has screwups of one kind or another.

"But it looks like they've been unusually slow in responding in this one."

More: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/09/MNVQT8TN3.DTL

On Edit: CRAP!!! Schwarzefukker is coming to San Francisco on Friday!

[nadinbrzezinski]

25. That looks impressive

and sad

[Pooka Fey]

26. Oh fuck fuck fuck this breaks my heart.

[donsu]

27. this is what RSOE is reporting:

http://hisz.rsoe.hu/alertmap/index.php?smp=&lang=eng


A South Korean container ship hit one of the stanchions of the Bay Bridge in a dense fog on Wednesday, spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker oil. Strong tides have since swept the slick through the mouth of San Francisco Bay, fouling beaches up to 20 miles north of the city and girdling Alcatraz Island with a belt of goo. While every change of tide sent the oil to a different shore, the largest concentrations were “one-and-a-half to two miles offshore, west of the Golden Gate bridge,” said Lt. Rob Roberts of the California Department of Fish and Game. Several beaches were closed by the spill. Lieutenant Roberts said that of the 26 oil-covered shorebirds that had been found, six were dead. The spill, though just one two-hundredth the size of the Exxon Valdez spill into Prince William Sound in Alaska, still hit a nerve in a region whose self-image and international reputation is closely tied to its bridges, cold blue waters, beaches and rocky bluffs — many of them now touched by the oil. The Coast Guard and the California Department of Fish and Game extended yellow booms to keep the bunker fuel, one of the crudest and least-distilled petroleum products, from various shorelines, including the entrances to wildlife-rich estuaries north of San Francisco.

Wil Bruhns, a division chief with the San Francisco Bay Regional Water Quality Control Board, said that the outward bound ebb tide carried the slick “up the coast, where we’re getting reports of oil sheens and bad smell and oiled birds.” The ship, the Cosco Busan, owned by the Hanjin Shipping company of South Korea, struck a pier on the bridge’s western side. The glancing blow sheared off most of the protective fender of woodlike plastic, which was nearly 3 feet thick and 10 feet wide, said Bart Ney, a spokesman for the state transportation department. Jessica Castelli, a spokeswoman for the nonprofit environmental group Save the Bay, said worried residents had flooded her group with offers to clean injured birds and oiled beaches. Mr. Bruhns said that while he could not prejudge the investigation being conducted by the Coast Guard, earlier accidents had led to prosecutions. “Lots of ships go around the bay,” he said, “and it’s really rare the bridges get hit, even in fog. There is radar.” )
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even in fog there is radar

[Labors of Hercules]

28. F*CK! f*ck f*ck f*ck f*ck FUCK!!! GGGGGRRRRROWL!!!! nt.

:grr:

[femrap]

30. Fucking heart breaking...

I lived off Richardson Bay for a number of years. Shit Fuck Piss.

edited for typo

[piesRsquare]

31. UPDATE

ABOUT SAN FRANCISCO BAY OIL SPILL, November 2007
Updated: Friday, 8:00 pm

Number of birds received at OWCN facilities: 94 live, 24 dead

For members of the public interested in wildlife care: The Department of Fish and Game is offering informational sessions on Saturday, November 10. (go to http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/owcn/ for the link to the PDF-format flyer.

If you want to volunteer:
The public has been overwhelmingly generous about volunteering to help. We have enough volunteers for the next day or so. Please continue to monitor this site in case the situation changes, and please continue to report any oiled birds you find. http://www.vetmed.ucdavis.edu/owcn/

If you see oiled wildlife: Don't approach or pick it up, but call [phone] to report it. Please do not call this number about volunteering.