11/24/2007   English German
  Edition # 71  
San Francisco, 11-24-2007

Oil in the Bay
Figure [1]: Due to a ship accident, oil spilled into
the bay and beaches were closed.>

Angelika After the fires in Southern California and an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.6 with an epicenter near San Jose (about an hour's drive south of San Francisco), another incident tested our nerves: Two weeks ago, a container ship rammed a pillar of the Bay Bridge in dense fog. Surprisingly, the bridge withstood the impact because there is something like a giant cushion around the bridge pillar, a kind of shock absorber for collisions of this type. However, the container ship "Cosco Busan" (not to be confused with Michael's favorite store "Costco") lost 58,000 gallons (about 220,000 liters) of oil, which flowed into the San Francisco Bay. It's madness! Unfortunately, the Coast Guard initially underestimated the extent of the disaster, assuming it was 140 gallons instead of 58,000. Quite a significant difference!

Figure [2]: The tent with the helpers who are
scrubbing the birds.>

The mayor, Gavin Newsom, who had just been re-elected the day before, was quite furious about this misjudgment. Valuable time was lost before the cleanup efforts with the appropriate equipment began. Governor Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency and immediately banned fishing in the affected regions. The authorities closed off numerous beaches, including many of our favorite beaches like Rodeo Beach in the Marin Headlands and the coastal strip around Crissy Field. Rundbrief 02/2007 .

Volunteers not only collected oil-polluted seabirds, but also scraped the grease off stones and scooped oil clumps out of the sand. In the meantime, most beaches are accessible again, and the first cleaned birds have been released back into the wild, but the consequences of the environmental disaster are still not foreseeable.

Figure [3]: The hose that keeps the oil away from the
beach.>

At the same time, the search for those responsible and the mutual blame game began. I wouldn't want to be in the shoes of the captain of the "Cosco Busan" and the pilot on board, who has more than 25 years of experience. The fog can't really be blamed either, as dense fog is more the rule than the exception in San Francisco. That's why pilots board the ships to safely navigate them through the challenging waters around the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge.

Moreover, the ship was equipped with two radar systems. However, the pilot now claims that these did not function properly. But even our mayor faced criticism because he flew off to Hawaii with his new girlfriend a day after the accident happened. The chief officer of the coast guard was replaced without a fuss. Environmentalists and politicians also have harsh words for the private specialist firm "O'Brian's Group" from Louisiana, which was hired by the shipping company of the container ship to manage the cleanup operations. I was initially surprised that such firms even exist, but apparently, collecting oil in all kinds of waters is a lucrative business. A commission is now supposed to investigate the circumstances that led to the accident.

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