CSPA Advisory -12.4.07

Legislature Hearing On Prospect Island Fish Kill

and

Senator Boxer’s Testimony on the Bay Oil Spill 

The State Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife will hold a hearing Thursday, December 6, to examine the circumstances that led to the loss of tens of thousands of fish in the Delta late last month. The committee will review the facts surrounding the incident on Prospect Island, the roles of the various governmental agencies involved, and assess the effects on wildlife resources. The hearing is open to the public.   

The Hearing will be held this Thursday, December 6, 2007at 9:30 AM in the Rio Vista City Council Chambers, One Main Street. Assemblywoman Lois Wolk, Chair of the Committee and representative for the 8th Assembly district, will preside over the hearing. Representatives from the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of Fish and Game have been requested to testify at the hearing, in addition to representatives from fishery interests including CSPA and the California Striped Bass Assoc. For more information, contact Melissa Jones at (916) 319-2008.

Hopefully the Hearing will shed some light on what appears to be one of the worst fish kills in the state’s history. From what we currently know, this could well be another huge blunder by the Bureau of Reclamation who failed to look before they leaped. Yes, this is very same federal agency that has refused to mitigate for the direct losses of fish which they kill by the millions annually at their Central Valley Water project pumps near Tracy.

The fishery hardest hit is the striped bass. Once the premier fishery of the Bay-Delta estuary, they now are traveling down the same road toward extinction as the infamous Delta smelt that forced the shutting down of the State Water Project’s Delta pumping plant this spring thanks to two successful law suites, one conducted by CSPA and the other by environmental groups litigated by Earth Justice.

 Senator Boxer's Hearing Statement

 SF Bay Oil Spill

House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation

Hearing on “San Francisco November 2007 Oil Spill

 Causes and Response”

November 19, 2007

I want to thank the House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation for holding this field hearing on the oil spill that occurred earlier this month in San Francisco Bay. San Francisco Bay is one of the most spectacular places not only in the country, but in the world. San Francisco Bay boasts extraordinary natural beauty, biological diversity and economic productivity. It is home to millions of people and beloved by millions and millions of tourists from all over the globe.

For all of us who love the Bay, this oil spill has been nothing short of heartbreaking. The damage has already been enormous – the oil has washed up on the coastline throughout the Bay Area and has also spread to the Gulf of the Farallones and Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuaries. Over 1,300 birds have died, and hundreds more are being treated.

In addition, over two dozen beaches in the area remain closed at this time and Governor Schwarzenegger has suspended all fishing in areas affected by the oil spill, a move that will delay the start of the commercial Dungeness crab season.

Back in Washington, we have already started the process of discovering what went wrong, what went right, what else we need to do immediately, if we need additional resources, and what long term lessons can be learned from this experience.

Last week, I chaired a briefing with Senators Feinstein and Snowe and we heard from: Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard Commandant; Rear Admiral Brian Salerno, Assistant Commandant for Policy and Planning; Scott Rayder, Chief of Staff, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; Joseph Osterman, Managing Director, National Transportation Safety Board; and Deb Self, Executive Director, Baykeeper.

I think the most important issue our briefing addressed was communication. A catastrophic oil spill requires a remarkably rapid and coordinated response, and information flow is crucial. Every hour that an oil spill is unchecked, the oil disperses and becomes harder to recover. We learned that not only did City officials and the public not know about the true size of the spill for many hours, neither did Admiral Allen. That is simply unacceptable.

And that lack of information and coordination meant that hundreds of volunteers who could have been immediately deployed to clean the beaches were turned away. Deb Self of Baykeeper told a harrowing tale of being out on the Bay, attempting to get someone on the phone from the clean-up contractor, O’Brien’s Group, who could take reports of oil slicks. Deb was passed from number to number and finally wound up with a claims adjuster who could do nothing to help her.

Our briefing also raised troubling questions about the communications between the Coast Guard’s Vessel Traffic Service and the Cosco Busan. Evidently the VTS was aware that the ship was going too fast for such foggy conditions and that the ship was not on a proper course, but was unable to order the ship to make the necessary course corrections. I think most would agree the Coast Guard must be able to impose speed limits and other navigational restrictions if conditions warrant, especially in hard-to-navigate and environmentally sensitive waterways.

We also attempted to untangle the questions surrounding the licensing of pilots and, specifically, the state and federal roles. According to press reports, Captain John Cota, the pilot of the ship, had four incidents involving an investigation by the Board of Pilot Commissioners in the past 14 years and was reprimanded last year for running a ship aground. We need to have procedures in place to make sure that all pilots are fit for duty.

And the drug and alcohol testing procedures used in maritime accidents are seriously flawed. In the case of the Cosco Busan, the pilot, ship’s bridge crew and then the rest of the crew were tested separately and, in some cases, too late. There is a serious question as to whether the ship’s owner should be the one responsible for arranging the drug and alcohol testing of its own crew since if that crew is found to be impaired, the ship’s owner will be liable.

Finally, our briefing considered some of the larger questions – should we require double hulls on cargo ships? Should we ban the use of highly toxic bunker fuel in environmentally sensitive areas? Is a “unified command,” which includes federal, state and “responsible party” representatives, able to respond quickly and forcefully enough? Do we need to revisit the liability limits on shippers set by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990? And by placing the Coast Guard into the Department of Homeland Security, have we caused the agency to lose too much of its focus on maritime rescue and recovery?

I know today’s hearing will continue to focus on all these pressing questions and I look forward to working with my House colleagues, federal, state and local officials, as well as local organizations, to take whatever steps are necessary to prevent such accidents in the future.

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If you want to help us continue to conserve the estuary’s fishery resources, then I can’t think of a better time to write a check and put your money where your heart is. Donations are tax-deductible, greatly needed and appreciated. Send checks to CSPA at1360 Neilson Street, Berkeley, CA 94702-1116. Membership starts a $30. If you are a member, then you know of the good work we do, so sign up a friend who cares about the future of our fisheries and take a stand for restoring our fisheries! Questions? 510-526-4049.

John Beuttler

Conservation Director