emse232

Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management

Crisis and Emergency Management

December 2007 Volume 13 - Number 3

What Happened in San Francisco? A Look at the Cosco Busan Oil Spill
By Christa Jackson

Anyone who has ever visited or lived in San Francisco, California has experienced the fog. Not surprisingly, San Francisco Bay is acknowledged as the foggiest harbor in the United States and boasts almost 4,000 major ship arrivals (and 10,000 ship moves) each year. Given these circumstances, it seems inevitable that an occasional collision caused by human, mechanical or electronic error might occur. On 7 November 2007, the inevitable did happen when the 900-foot container ship MV Cosco Busan struck the tower supporting the western span of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in heavy fog. The resulting 200-foot gash in the port side of the ship ripped open several fuel tanks and spilled roughly 58,000 gallons of fuel oil into the Bay.

A Unified Command (UC), consisting of the U.S. Coast Guard, the California Department of Fish and Game, and a representative of the Responsible Party, was established early in the incident. The UC works collaboratively to develop overall management objectives for the incident and is directing the operation of response workers and volunteers, support vessels, skimmers, shoreline cleanup and assessment teams, wildlife teams and aircraft.

According to a UC news release on 18 November, more than 18,000 feel of boom were laid, approximately 16,500 gallons of oil had been recovered and 4,100 gallons oil had evaporated; more than 1,200 birds were dead and 1,023 had been captured for de-oiling; and 17 shoreline cleanup teams and six shoreline assessment teams were working on beach cleanup.

Shoreline clean-up is categorized into three phases: gross oil removal, treatment and maintenance. Throughout these phases, the UC establishes standards for oil clean-up and monitors progress. During the gross oil removal phase, all substantial amounts of oil that can be seen and easily collected are removed for proper disposal. The treatment phase involves reducing oil amounts to such a level that no oil is visible and cleanup operations can continue at other locations. The maintenance phase is the final phase of clean-up operations and requires clean-up to the degree that is acceptable to the UC and the community. As of 16 November, gross oil removal had been completed at nine impacted beaches.

While the full details of the disaster are not yet known, several things are: the Coast Guard initially reported only 140 gallons of oil spilled, a federal criminal investigation is underway to investigate the cause of the spill, crab season has been cancelled and severe environmental damage to birds, fish and wildlife has occurred.

On November 14th, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen announced he had launched a comprehensive review of the Coast Guard’s response to the spill. Called an Incident Specific Preparedness Review (ISPR), the review is intended to serve as a fact-finding body to identify how the Coast Guard responded to the spill with its local partners. Members of the ISPR will include the U.S. Coast Guard, City of San Francisco, California Office of Emergency Services, Pacific States – British Columbia Oil Spill Task Force, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, and NOAA. Other federal, state and local agencies, industry stakeholders and environmental groups will also be involved in the ISPR with the initial report due in 90 days. The results of the ISPR will be interesting; particularly in light of the recent Safe Seas 2006 exercise, which was designed to test oil spill response preparedness in the San Francisco Bay area.

Additional details of the Cosco Busan Oil Spill and updated response information can be found at the Coast Guard website (www.coastguard.mil) or the Cosco Busan Unified Command Oil Spill Response website (www.piersystem.com/go/site/1641).