[Sosfbay-discuss] Bay cleanup efforts expanding

[Drew Johnson]

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/11/11/MNSETAB1P.DTL
Bay cleanup efforts expanding
VOLUNTEERS FRUSTRATED: Coast Guard defends its response to the spill, as
people are warned not to touch oil or wildlife

(11-10) 16:02 PST SAN FRANCISCO --

Emergency officials more than doubled the number of ships and cleanup
workers attacking the massive oil spill throughout the Bay Area on
Saturday - while hundreds of frustrated citizens who tried to help were
turned away from contaminated beaches and so-called training sessions.

The armada of governmental and private boats on the water either searching
for oily messes or mopping them up grew from 11 to 46, the Coast Guard
reported, and the number of people working cleanup shifts increased from
300 to 770. Three helicopters did flyovers all day to pinpoint the worst
contamination spots.

"I assure you, that's not where we're stopping," said Coast Guard Rear
Adm. Craig Bone, who for days has been fending off criticism of his
agency's response to the crisis. "In the next few days you'll see hundreds
more people arriving on these beaches."

Sixteen of the boats are skimmers - specially rigged craft that gather oil
from the water - from private contractors hired by the company that owns
the Cosco Busan container ship that rammed a Bay Bridge tower last week
and dumped 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the bay. The other 30 boats
are volunteer fishermen, recreational sailers and local agency craft that
are helping deploy containment booms.

The National Transportation Safety Board has just taken over the lead in
the investigation, because the primary responsibility for the spill will
apparently lie with the crew of the ship that caused it. NTSB officials
convened a meeting late Saturday night to get up to speed on the status of
the disaster. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., is due to arrive today to
tour the catastrophe by air and confer with disaster officials.

Bone, however, indicated that the investigation has already narrowed
somewhat - and pointed to the crew of the ship.

"Our preliminary investigation shows no indication that there was anything
mechanically wrong with the vessel," he said. "What remains is human
error."

The Coast Guard is the lead agency for the initial response to all big oil
spills in the bay, and since Wednesday it has been taking heat from
officials from San Francisco to Washington for both the cleanup effort and
for its slowness in getting word out.

Bone, whose agency will still be involved in the probe along with the
NTSB, reiterated his earlier contentions that the immediate response to
the crisis on Wednesday was appropriate - even though the Coast Guard did
not notify the public of the extent of the spill until more than four
hours after learning of it.

"We did everything we could as quickly as we could," Bone said.

As evidence of that, he noted that a cleanup skimmer was on the spill
scene within an hour of the incident, something that he said usually takes
several hours to happen. He also noted that the two tanks that ruptured
had a capacity of 500,000 gallons - much more than spilled.

The notification to the public, however, was not done well, he said.

Since the heavy bunker fuel spewed from the Cosco Busan's ruptured hull at
8:30 a.m. Wednesday, oil globules have spread from Ocean Beach to Tomales
Bay along the sea coastline, and in the bay from Richmond to Hunters
Point. Oil was seen late last week at the Farallon Islands, but state
officials said they could find none on Saturday. About 20 beaches around
the region are closed.

By Saturday evening, 231 injured live birds had been recovered. At least
65 birds have died. Officials suspended their tally of how much oil has
been recovered, saying they will release one later. As of Friday, more
than 20,500 gallons had been recovered.

The increased mopping effort is an improvement, observers said - but not
enough.

"They need more cleanup crews," said Sejal Choksi, program director of the
environmental watchdog group Baykeeper. "It seems like this is the weekend
where we could make the most impact, because once it starts raining and
another day of tides and currents move this oil around, it will be much
harder to get at."

Efforts by many people seeking to venture out on a rainy day and join
cleanup crews, however, were a mixed bag.

Hundreds of volunteers who wanted to do something were advised Saturday in
San Francisco and in Richmond to go home and do nothing - spilled oil is
just too dangerous for untrained volunteers to clean up, officials told
them.

The word came at an "informational session" for volunteers at Bill Graham
Civic Auditorium, and at a classroom at the Richmond Harbor, both
sponsored by the state Department of Fish and Game.

"Don't go to the beach, don't pick up tar balls, don't touch wildlife,"
Yvonne Addassi, a wildlife director for the department, said in San
Francisco. "We don't want you to be in contact with the oil. It's a
hazardous substance."

Scores of public-minded citizens who had shown up for the meeting - many
wearing old clothes and gloves and ready for a messy day of hard work on
the beach - were clearly confounded. The announcement of the meeting said
officials would tell "how the public can get trained."

But Addassi said there was really nothing an average person could do at
the beach except get in the way or get harmed. Large numbers of people
will "scare away" oil-soaked birds from landing on the beach, she said.

Training for dealing with hazardous oil takes at least 24 hours, according
to state and federal authorities. Officials from several agencies said no
such training is available right now.

"It's frustrating," said Ryan Gross of San Francisco. "I want to help. I
don't want to sit home and do nothing. But that's what they told us to
do."

Meanwhile, a group of surfer activists with the Surfrider Foundation was
urging its members to show up at Ocean Beach with "kitty litter scoops and
heavy duty bags." And that's just what Alex Stein of San Francisco did.

"It just seemed like the right thing to do," he said, picking up oil
droplets with kitchen gloves.

In Richmond, not all volunteers felt frustrated. Oakland psychologist Ed
Grigas said the prevailing mood at the class for volunteers reflected "a
lot of positive public opinion" and understanding about the limited
opportunities for untrained helpers.

Those who could not undergo 24-hour training were offered other
suggestions for helping, such as preparing food for recovering birds or
donating supplies.

"The Berkeley Marina is accepting donations of sheets and towels," Grigas
said. "I called my friends and asked them to help out. I plan to take old
sheets and towels after work on Monday."

Things were more tense Friday in Marin County, where Sigward Moser led a
30-person volunteer group - including 20 monks-in-training from the Mill
Valley Zen Center - onto Muir Beach. For his efforts, he was detained and
handcuffed.

The little army managed to scoop up nearly 500 bags of gloppy, sandy oil
between 2 and 5 p.m. Moser said it was easy duty: "It rolls up like kitty
litter, right off the surface of the sand. Went right into the bags with
no problem."

They got almost all the oil they could find - and then a National Park
Service ranger showed up.

"He asked us to leave, and we said we needed to do what we were doing, so
he put me in handcuffs," said Moser, a communications consultant. "I told
him, 'Well, there was nobody else doing the cleanup before we began.' But
he just said I was breaking the law and this is hazardous material that I
shouldn't be dealing with."

Moser was cited for two misdemeanors - failure to obey an official order
and entry into a restricted area - and released.

Now he has 500 bags of glop in his yard, and he has no idea how to get rid
of it.

A standing-room-only crowd of more than 200 people gathered Saturday in
the Marin Headlands for yet another orientation by the Department of Fish
and Game on how they could help - and they, too, wound up feeling
flummoxed.

There was a long slide show presentation updating the spill situation,
describing the cleanup equipment and how Fish and Game operates. But the
crowd interrupted, wanting to know what they could do - instead of
listening to a lot of talk.

"I've been to a lot of oil spills, and I have never been to one where
there were this many volunteers," said Addassi, the environmental
scientist with the department.

She was interrupted by frustrated people. "Don't waste us!" a man shouted.
"We want to do something now!" yelled another.

Fish and Game volunteer coordinator Cindy Murphy begged people to be
patient, and to call her volunteer line - (800) 228-4544 - because there
are many opportunities to prepare materials and otherwise help without
actually handling oil.

Meanwhile, this weekend's two-day San Francisco Triathlon at Treasure
Island became a Biathlon when the bay swim part of the competition was
canceled. About 900 athletes competed Saturday, and the 72 from around the
world who hoped to gain points to qualify for the Olympic Games were left
high and dry - even though they still competed for $68,000 in prize money.

Chronicle staff writers Joe Garofoli, Charles Burress, Peter Fimrite and
Nanette Asimov contributed to this report. E-mail the writers at
kfagan at sfchronicle.com, jwildermuth at sfchronicle.com and
srubenstein at sfchronicle.com.