Cosco Busan oil spill

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The Cosco Busan oil spill was an oil spill that happened at 8:30 a.m. on 7 November 2007 between San Francisco, California and Oakland, California, in which 53,500 gallons (200,000 litres) of toxic bunker fuel spilled into San Francisco Bay after the container ship Cosco Busan struck the Delta Tower of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge in thick fog.

Investigators found that bar pilot John Cota abandoned his radar because he was high on pharmaceuticals, and that the Coast Guard's Vessel Traffic Service did not warn Cota that he was sailing at the bridge. ^[1]

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency after meeting federal, state and local officials overseeing the cleanup. The proclamation made additional state personnel, funding and equipment available to assess and clean up the environmental damage.^[2]

Contents 1 Causes 2 Responsibility 3 Area affected 4 Effects 4.1 Environmental 4.2 Economic 5 Volunteering 6 Cleanup timeline 7 Aftermath 8 Prior spills 9 See also 10 References 11 External links

[edit] Causes

The National Transportation Safety Board determined the following probable causes of the crash^[3]:

1. the pilot’s degraded cognitive performance from his use of prescription medications,
2. the absence of a comprehensive pre-departure master/pilot exchange and a lack of effective communication between Pilot John Cota and Master Mao Cai Sun during the accident voyage, and
3. the Sun's s ineffective oversight of Cota's performance and the vessel’s progress.

Other contributing factors included:^[4]

1. the failure of Fleet Management Ltd. to train the Cosco Busan crewmembers and failing to ensure that the crew understood and complied with the company’s safety management system, and
2. the U.S. Coast Guard’s failure to provide adequate medical oversight of Cota, in view of the medical and medication information he had reported to the Coast Guard. ^[5]

[edit] Responsibility

Senator Barbara Boxer and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom criticized the Coast Guard for its response, as its initial reported figures, between 100 and 400 gallons of oil, were significantly lower than those of the actual spill.^[6]

On Friday, 30 November 2007, the United States government filed a lawsuit against the ship and the pilot.^{[citation needed]}

On July 23, 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Fleet Management Ltd. of Hong Kong, the company that operated the Cosco Busan. The indictment included six felonies for allegedly falsifying documents to interfere with a federal investigation and two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for allegedly helping to cause the spill. ^[7]. The company has offered to plead guilty to the misdemeanors.

On October 23, 2008, the California state Board of Pilot Commissioners released a report, saying the spill was the result of a series of mistakes by the pilot Captain John Cota. The 18-page report found Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship, including failing to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, sailing in fog so thick that he could see only 200 feet ahead and sailing at an unsafe speed. Cota thus faces a federal criminal indictment on seven counts of violating the law by spilling oil and killing federally protected birds.^[8]

On March 6, 2009, Captain John Cota negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors ^[9] to federal water pollution and migratory bird killing charges. The agreement calls for him to serve two to ten months in prison and includes a fine between $3,000 and $30,000.

[edit] Area affected

The tidal mechanics of San Francisco Bay^[10] caused the spill to spread rapidly, affecting a large area of the California North Coast, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, Ocean Beach and the Marin Headlands.^[11]

More than 50 public beaches were closed, including Crissy Field, Fort Point, Baker Beach, China Beach and Kirby Cove.^[12]

By 14 November 2007, beaches as far south as Pacifica, California had been closed due to the spill.^[13]

Richmond's shoreline and wildlife were seriously affected by the spill. Beaches and shorelines were closed, but later reopened. However, access was still restricted as of December 2007.^[14] The government organizations responsible for the cleanup response and recovery devoted much effort to the East Bay since it was the area most impacted. The East Bay segments were the last ones to be signed off as cleaned because of the additional maintenance and monitoring that were required.

[edit] Effects

[edit] Environmental

According to the California Department of Fish and Game, the spill is known to have killed 2,519 birds: 1,084 birds were collected alive (664 of which died; 421 of which were rehabilitated and released) and 1,856 were collected dead.^[15] The actual number of birds impacted is subject to investigation. Seals were also killed. About 200 miles (320 km) of coastline was oiled. The eggs laid by Herring, which typically enter the bay in December, were killed in areas affected by the spill. ^[16]

[edit] Economic

Several fisheries in the Bay Area may have been affected by the spill and the crab and sport fishing seasons were postponed by several weeks.^[17] As of November 30, State biologists had tested more than 1100 samples of fish, mussels and Dungeness crab in San Francisco Bay and coastal waters outside the Golden Gate. The tests found unsafe levels of contaminants in mussels from Rodeo Beach and the Berkeley pier.

Total monetary damages were estimated at $2.1 million for the ship, $1.5 million for the bridge's fender, and more than $70 million for environmental cleanup. Environmental restoration costs are still being calculated. ^[18]

[edit] Volunteering

This section may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this section if you can. (December 2007)

Initial official releases from public agencies warned against involvement of volunteers, and worked to deflect volunteers into non-contact activities. This included asking people to act as drivers for bird transport, or as support staff to other efforts. The U.S. Coast Guard directed volunteers to clean non-oiled beaches.^[19]

For the first few days OSHA rules were interpreted as requiring HAZWOPER certification, a minimum of 24 hours of classroom time, before involvement in any effort that may result in oil contact. Eventually, and after significant pressure from would-be volunteers, a four-hour "Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification" subset of the course was offered.^[20] OSHA rules require exactly 240 minutes of classroom time, and the certification is valid for only one incident, e.g., this oil spill.

[edit] Cleanup timeline

Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (December 2007)

Ad-hoc volunteers were discouraged from cleaning beaches during the early days following the spill, as government workers and private contractor The O'Brien's Group handled the official disaster response. On 11 November 2007, cleanup and reports were focused on damage assessment of the COSCO Busan.^[21] Oil-soaked birds were put in boxes and driven to the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield to be rehabilitated by University of California, Davis, veterinary medical students,^[22] and as of 2007-11-25, some birds were returned to the wild.

[edit] Aftermath

On 21 December 2007, the COSCO Busan sailed out of San Francisco Bay en route to South Korea with a new crew.^[23] Around the same time, the demolished Bay Bridge fender section was found 25 miles (40 km) south of Half Moon Bay,^{[citation needed]} and the fender was repaired at the Bay Bridge.^[24]

The Petaluma man who was bar piloting the Busan at the time of the collision, apparently under the influence of mind-altering prescription drugs, John Cota, pleaded guilty to environmental misdemeanors in March 2009 and is due to be sentenced to up to 10 months in prison and up to $30,000 in fines by a federal judge on July 17, 2009.^[25]

Fleet Management, the shipping company that was operating the Cosco Busan at the time of the crash, has offered to plead guilty to environmental misdemeanors and it has also been charged with felonies for attempting to mislead investigators.^[26].

Six of the Chinese crew members employed by Fleet Management were arrested and held in the US on material witness warrants until more than one year after the accident.^[27]

[edit] Prior spills

The SS Cape Mohican was the source of a 1996 spill of 40,000 gallons of heavy fuel oil^[21] in San Francisco Bay causing $3.625 million in natural resources damages.^[28][29]

[edit] See also

• Oil spill

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Path of the COSCO Busan
• Cosco Busan Natural Resource Damage Assessment

37°48′03″N 122°22′29″W / 37.80073°N 122.37486°W / 37.80073; -122.37486