Apr 7, 2008 8:25 pm US/Pacific
Calif. Lawmakers Advance Oil Spill Response Bills
SACRAMENTO (AP) ―
Cleanup crews would speed their response to oil spills and have more money and better technology at their disposal under eight bills that cleared their first legislative committees Monday.
The bills are in response to the spill of 53,000 gallons of sludgelike fuel into San Francisco Bay in November after a cargo ship sideswiped a tower of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.
The state's response was slow and confused, in part because heavy fog masked the serious nature of the spill for hours, state lawmakers said in advancing the bills.
"If you can't contain the spill in the first two hours, you've basically lost the war," Warren Chabot, of the Washington, D.C.-based environmental group Ocean Conservancy, told the Assembly Natural Resources Committee.
Legislation by Sen. Carole Migden, D-San Francisco, would require cleanup crews to respond within two hours instead of the six hours allowed by current law.
A bill by her political rival, Assemblyman Mark Leno, requires that cleanup crews be ready on 30 minutes notice to respond using pre-positioned equipment. Leno, also a Democrat, is trying to unseat Migden in the June 3 primary.
A bill by Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, D-Berkeley, would double the state's oil spill response fund to $100 million with an increase in the surcharge on oil shipments.
Hancock's second bill would require the state to immediately notify local governments after a spill. Bay area officials complained they weren't told the extent of the problem for hours.
Bills by Hancock and Assembly members Lois Wolk, D-Davis, and Jared Huffman, D-San Rafael, would aid volunteer response to spills.
A bill by Assemblywoman Sally Lieber, D-Mountain View, would require tugboat escorts for ships carrying hazardous materials other than oil.
Petroleum and shipping companies objected to provisions in some of the bills but promised to work with lawmakers on amendments as the measures move through the Legislature.
A ninth bill, by Sen. Joe Simitian, D-Palo Alto, is set for a committee vote next week. It would require more training and testing for private companies that clean up oil spills.
(© 2008 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
