Mar 12, 2008 8:32 pm US/Pacific
State Auditor To Probe SF Bay Oil Spill Response
SAN FRANCISCO (BCN) ―
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The Cosco Busan in San Francisco Bay following a collision with the Bay Bridge on November 7th of last year.
CBS
The state auditor will conduct an independent investigation into the state's emergency response to November's Cosco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay, state Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco/North Bay, announced Wednesday.
Migden requested the audit in December and today received unanimous approval from the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, according to Migden's office.
Migden said she hoped the audit would identify any problems with the state's coordinated oil spill response, should a similar disaster occur in the future.
"My goal is to ensure that we never again make the kinds of errors that unfolded in the Cosco Busan disaster," Migden said in a prepared statement. "An independent, thorough audit is an ideal method to develop recommendations that can improve our oil spill disaster response."
The committee has also directed the state auditor to begin the investigation immediately, Migden's office reported.
When the 900-foot container ship struck a protective fender at the base of the Bay Bridge in dense fog on the morning of Nov. 7, it opened a gash in the ship's side that released approximately 54,000 gallons of fuel into the bay, nearly 20,000 gallons of which was ultimately recovered, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The spill temporarily closed beaches throughout the Bay Area, killed thousands of birds and damaged the area's fishing industry.
Among the problems identified in the response were delays in the initial reporting of the size of the spill and lack of coordination between the Coast Guard and local emergency services and volunteer networks.
The National Transportation Safety Board, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Inspector General, the Coast Guard and California's Office of Spill Prevention and Response, as well as local jurisdictions, are also conducting investigations into the spill and the response that followed.
The safety board has scheduled a two-day public hearing on its investigation into the spill beginning April 8 in Washington, D.C.
(© CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Bay City News contributed to this report.)
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