It will take awhile and as of yet, there is still no cause found for why the ship collided with the bridge causing the 58,000 gallons of oil to spill into the Bay.
Ship's crew ordered to appear before grand jury investigating bay oil spill
Kevin Fagan, Demian Bulwa,Steve Rubenstein, Chronicle Staff Writers
Tuesday, November 13, 2007
(11-12) 18:02 PST San Francisco - -- The cleanup of the San Francisco Bay oil spill settled Monday into what is expected to be a weeks-long slog of mopping off rocks, beaches and birds, as authorities subpoenaed the crew of the ship that spewed the fuel, gleaned new details from its pilot and began to examine what might be wrong with the area's disaster response plans.
Investigators are focusing on the crew of the Cosco Busan - the container ship that rammed the base of a Bay Bridge tower Wednesday morning and dumped 58,000 gallons of heavy fuel into the bay - as well as how the Coast Guard and the company conducting the cleanup have responded to the disaster.
On Monday night, investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board said ship pilot Capt. John Cota told them that as the Cosco Busan left Oakland's port for its fateful trip Wednesday, he was "concerned" that his radar was having trouble getting a fix on objects and that there seemed to be inconsistencies in his ship charts. The fog had reduced visibility to a quarter of a mile, he told them.
"At some point while making his turn (in the bay), he told investigators that the images on the (ship's) bridge radar had become distorted," said NTSB member Debbie Hersman. She said the agency's investigators have not yet examined the equipment to check out the pilot's account.
"We haven't determined any causes for this accident," she said.
The U.S. attorney's office is investigating whether any criminal laws were broken in the spill, either by the crew or anyone else, and it issued subpoenas to members of the ship's crew, ordering them to appear before a federal grand jury. Dumping toxic oil into U.S. waters is a civil violation and a potential criminal violation.
"The fact of the matter is this event should have never occurred," said Adm. Thad Allen, commandant of the Coast Guard. "This is a prevention issue as much as anything else."
Allen told The Chronicle on Monday in a meeting with its editorial board that he believes now that his agency's response was appropriate for the size of the spill, but he said a full assessment remains to done.
