Oil Spills – What we can do is prevention. But better yet, we need to get off our addiction.
As the world watches the urgency of oil spill response operations in the Gulf of Mexico, Pacific Environment and SF Estuary Partnership hosted a local forum last week that brought this national tragedy a bit closer to home here in the Bay Area. The forum, “Oil Spills in San Francisco Bay: Preparing a Better Response,” for the first time brought together stakeholders of the Bay area community including natural resource managers, local and state agencies, environmental groups, fishing groups and the public to discuss the lessons learned from two recent oil spills in the Bay – the Cosco Busan in 2007 and the smaller Dubai Star spill in 2009 – and how to better prevent and respond in the future.
Oiled Bird
Among the speakers were Pacific Environment’s very own Jackie Dragon, Marine Sanctuaries Program Director; Mike Lynes, Conservation Director, Golden Gate Audubon Society; Scott Schaefer, Deputy Director for the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR); Zeke Grader, Executive Director for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fisherman’s Associations; and Captain Gugg and Lt. Cmdr. Gus Bannan of the U.S. Coast Guard.
Pacific Environment's Jackie Dragon giving opening remarks at forum.
Issues discussed included:
- How wildlife is impacted once oil hits the water
- Damage to sub-tidal areas from a spill but also from cleanup measure
- Inadequate volunteer preparedness training
- Newer technologies that are currently available but not being utilized due to state budgetary constraints
- California’s legislative response to oil spill prevention and response since the Cosco Busan ran into the Bay Bridge and spilled 58,000 gallons of oil in the Bay
The forum generated a ton of interest in the local media, not only due to its timeliness given the catastrophic oil spill in Gulf of Mexico, but also because the Bay Area is not immune from oil spills. We have had a number of significant spills since the early 1980s. One question dominated the day: Are we ready and best prepared to respond to the next spill, which, given the sizable shipping traffic into our busy Port of Oakland, is highly likely?
CBS Channel 5 interviews Pacific Environment's David Gordon and U.S. Coastguard representative.
There was no one, simple answer. Some argued that we are more ready than ever, especially as several of California’s oil spill emergency response teams now deployed in the Gulf will come back with greater experience. Others argued that we are not there yet and must work harder to meet the state’s mandate of “best achievable protection.”
Other important questions raised were:
- Who should lead a response?
- How do we pay for prevention measures and response?
- Are our current spill response technologies antiquated?
- How do we involve volunteer response teams and engage the fishing community more?
It is evident that there’s no lack of good ideas. In fact, some good legislative remedies were proposed post-Cosco Busan by Senator Loni Hancock and Assemblyman Jared Huffman but those bills were later vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger. These ideas should and will be presented again.
Prevention appears to be the one single action we can take now that is within our control. In our bay, fuel transfers are the most high risk routine activities, and if not done correctly can easily lead to an oil spill. Pacific Environment has taken a lead on this issue and is co-sponsoring AB234, a new bill introduced by Assemblyman Huffman that would require all marine units to pre-boom during oil transfer operations to maximize containment in the event of an oil spill.
I was pleased to see the number of concerned citizens as well as concerned stakeholders in attendance, including the U.S. Coast Guard. There really aren’t any bad guys (well, except for the oil industry lobbyists). The Coast Guard has as much appreciation and interest in protecting the Bay as we do. They don’t want to see oiled birds or eat oiled crab for dinner either. Fishermen are eager to train and deploy when needed. OSPR hasn’t ruled out pre-booming as an option for the Bay and they are looking into newer technologies to improve response.
Panelists at Bay Area Oil Spill Forum, May 11, 2010
The key is prevention, but as long as we continue to rely on fossil fuels to move goods through our busy port we will never be able to 100% prevent an oil spill. During session breaks, several stated that “as long as we like to keep driving our cars, oil spills will be a problem.” And while this highly technical forum addressed oil spills, it did not address the root cause of the problem – our oil addiction. Really, all of us have a role to play in protecting our invaluable natural resources from oil spills.
Zeke Grader stated it perfectly: “We need to get off our oil addiction”. Until we do, we must work for prevention of oil spills.
Tags: California, fossil fuels, marine conservation, marine sanctuaries, offshore drilling, oil spill, San Francisco Bay Area
