Cosco Busan oil spill
Encyclopedia
The COSCO Busan oil spill occurred at 08:30 UTC-8
on 7 November 2007 between San Francisco and Oakland, California
, in which 53569 gal of IFO-380 heavy fuel oil
, sometimes referred to as "bunker fuel", spilled into San Francisco Bay
after the container ship
M/V COSCO Busan operated by, Fleet Management Ltd., struck Delta Tower of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge in thick fog.
Investigators found that maritime pilot
John Cota was impaired from his use of prescription pharmaceuticals while piloting the boat, which rendered him unable to use the onboard radar and electronic maps correctly, and that the Vessel Traffic Service
of the United States Coast Guard
failed to warn Cota that the vessel was headed for the bridge. Cota was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for his role in the incident.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
declared a state of emergency after meeting federal, state and local officials overseeing the cleanup. The proclamation made additional state personnel, funding and equipment available to assess and clean up the environmental damage.
The National Transportation Safety Board
determined the following probable causes of the accident:
Other contributing factors included:
Senator Barbara Boxer
and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
criticized the Coast Guard for its response, as its initial reported figures, between 100 gal of oil, were significantly lower than those of the actual spill.
On Friday, 30 November 2007, the United States government filed a lawsuit against the ship and the pilot.
On July 23, 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Fleet Management Ltd of Hong Kong, the company that operated the COSCO Busan. The indictment included six felonies for allegedly falsifying documents to interfere with a federal investigation and two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for allegedly helping to cause the spill. The company offered to plead guilty to the misdemeanors. This federal criminal case was resolved when Fleet paid $10 million in fines and restitution. $8 million went to a victim/witness fund and $2 million went to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used for environmental projects in the Bay Area.
On October 23, 2008, the California state Board of Pilot Commissioners released a report, saying the spill was the result of a series of mistakes by the maritime pilot
Captain John Cota. The 18-page report found Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship, including failing to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, sailing in fog
so thick that he could see only 200 feet ahead and sailing at an unsafe speed. Cota faced seven federal charges for spilling oil and killing federally protected birds.
On March 6, 2009, Cota negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors to federal water pollution and migratory bird killing charges. The agreement called for him to serve two to ten months in prison and included a fine between $3,000 and $30,000. On July 10, he was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.
On September 19, 2011, federal, state, and local agencies announced a final comprehensive civil settlement for $44.4 million. It included the following:
$32.2 million for natural resource damages (to be spent on restoration projects)
$1.25 million for state penalties.
$10.9 million for unpaid government response and assessment costs
The tidal mechanics of San Francisco Bay caused the spill to spread rapidly, affecting a large area of the California
North Coast
, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
, Ocean Beach
and the Marin Headlands
.
More than 50 public beaches were closed, including Crissy Field
, Fort Point, Baker Beach
, China Beach and Kirby Cove.
By 14 November 2007, beaches as far south as Pacifica, California
had been closed due to the spill.
Richmond's
shoreline and wildlife were seriously affected by the spill. Beaches and shorelines were closed, but later reopened. However, access was still restricted as of December 2007. The government organizations responsible for the cleanup response and recovery devoted much effort to the East Bay and Rodeo Beach since they were the areas most impacted. The Rodeo Beach and Albany Beach segments were the last ones to be signed off as cleaned because of the additional maintenance and monitoring that were required.
According to the federal and state natural resource trustee agencies, the spill is estimated to have killed 6,849 birds. 2,519 were collected: 1,084 were collected alive (789 of which died; 295 of which were rehabilitated and released) and 1,856 were collected dead. About 200 miles (321.9 km) of coastline, incorporating 3,367 acres, was oiled. The eggs laid by herring
, which typically enter the bay in December, were killed in areas affected by the spill. It is estimated that 14 to 29% of the herring spawn in winter 2007-8 were lost due to the spill.
An estimated 1,079,900 recreational use days were also lost as a result of the spill. This includes general shoreline use as well as recreational fishing and boating.
Total monetary damages were estimated at $2.1 million for the ship, $1.5 million for the bridge's fender, and more than $70 million for oil spill cleanup.
For the first few days OSHA
rules were interpreted as requiring HAZWOPER
certification, a minimum of 24 hours of classroom time, before involvement in any effort that may result in oil contact. Eventually, and after significant pressure from would-be volunteers, a four-hour "Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification" subset of the course was offered. OSHA rules require exactly 240 minutes of classroom time, and the certification is valid for only one incident, e.g., this oil spill.
Ad-hoc volunteers were discouraged from cleaning beaches during the early days following the spill, as government workers and private contractor The O'Brien's Group
handled the official disaster response. On 11 November 2007, cleanup and reports were focused on damage assessment of the COSCO Busan. Oil-soaked birds were put in boxes and driven to the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield
to be rehabilitated by University of California, Davis
, veterinary medical students, and as of 25 November, some birds were returned to the wild.
, South Korea
with a new crew under her new name Hanjin Venezia. US$1.5 million in repairs were completed to the bridge fender, three weeks ahead of schedule and $500,000 under budget around the same time.
UTC-8
UTC−08:00 is an identifier for a time offset from UTC of −08. This time is used in:-As standard time :*Canada**Northwest Territories***Tungsten and the associated Cantung Mine*Mexico...
on 7 November 2007 between San Francisco and Oakland, California
Oakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
, in which 53569 gal of IFO-380 heavy fuel oil
Fuel oil
Fuel oil is a fraction obtained from petroleum distillation, either as a distillate or a residue. Broadly speaking, fuel oil is any liquid petroleum product that is burned in a furnace or boiler for the generation of heat or used in an engine for the generation of power, except oils having a flash...
, sometimes referred to as "bunker fuel", spilled into San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay
San Francisco Bay is a shallow, productive estuary through which water draining from approximately forty percent of California, flowing in the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers from the Sierra Nevada mountains, enters the Pacific Ocean...
after the container ship
Container ship
Container ships are cargo ships that carry all of their load in truck-size intermodal containers, in a technique called containerization. They form a common means of commercial intermodal freight transport.-History:...
M/V COSCO Busan operated by, Fleet Management Ltd., struck Delta Tower of the San Francisco – Oakland Bay Bridge in thick fog.
Investigators found that maritime pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
John Cota was impaired from his use of prescription pharmaceuticals while piloting the boat, which rendered him unable to use the onboard radar and electronic maps correctly, and that the Vessel Traffic Service
Vessel Traffic Service
A vessel traffic service is a marine traffic monitoring system established by harbour or port authorities, similar to air traffic control for aircraft...
of the United States Coast Guard
United States Coast Guard
The United States Coast Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven U.S. uniformed services. The Coast Guard is a maritime, military, multi-mission service unique among the military branches for having a maritime law enforcement mission and a federal regulatory agency...
failed to warn Cota that the vessel was headed for the bridge. Cota was sentenced to 10 months in federal prison for his role in the incident.
California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Schwarzenegger
Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger is an Austrian-American former professional bodybuilder, actor, businessman, investor, and politician. Schwarzenegger served as the 38th Governor of California from 2003 until 2011....
declared a state of emergency after meeting federal, state and local officials overseeing the cleanup. The proclamation made additional state personnel, funding and equipment available to assess and clean up the environmental damage.
Causes
National Transportation Safety Board
The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent U.S. government investigative agency responsible for civil transportation accident investigation. In this role, the NTSB investigates and reports on aviation accidents and incidents, certain types of highway crashes, ship and marine...
determined the following probable causes of the accident:
- the pilot’s degraded cognitive performance from his use of prescription medications, despite his completely clean post accident drug test,
- the absence of a comprehensive pre-departure master/pilot exchange and a lack of effective communication between Pilot John Cota and Master Mao Cai Sun during the accident voyage, and
- (COSCO Busan Master) Sun's ineffective oversight of Cota's piloting performance and the vessel’s progress.
Other contributing factors included:
- the failure of Fleet Management Ltd. to train the COSCO Busan crewmembers (which led to such acts of gross negligence as the bow lookout eating breakfast in the galley instead of being on watch) and Fleet Management's failure to ensure that the crew understood and complied with the company’s safety management system;
- the failure of Caltrans to maintain foghorns on the bridge which were silent despite the heavy fog;
- the failure of Vessel Traffic Safety (VTS) to alert Cota and Sun that they were headed for the tower. VTS is legally required to alert a vessel if an accident appears imminent, yet they remained silent;
- the malfunctioning radar on the COSCO Busan, which led Captains Cota and Sun to use an electronic chart for the rest of the voyage. Although Coast Guard investigators found the radar to be in working order, they did not examine it until days after the accident (allowing time for faulty equipment to be fixed, which is not uncommon after a marine accident)
- Captain Sun's incorrect identification of symbols on the electronic chart;
- the U.S. Coast Guard’s failure to provide adequate medical oversight of Cota, in view of the medical and medication information he had reported to the Coast Guard.
Responsibility
Barbara Boxer
Barbara Levy Boxer is the junior United States Senator from California . A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served in the U.S. House of Representatives ....
and San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom
Gavin Newsom
Gavin Christopher Newsom is an American politician who is the 49th and current Lieutenant Governor of California. Previously, he was the 42nd Mayor of San Francisco, and was elected in 2003 to succeed Willie Brown, becoming San Francisco's youngest mayor in 100 years. Newsom was re-elected in 2007...
criticized the Coast Guard for its response, as its initial reported figures, between 100 gal of oil, were significantly lower than those of the actual spill.
On Friday, 30 November 2007, the United States government filed a lawsuit against the ship and the pilot.
On July 23, 2008, a federal grand jury indicted Fleet Management Ltd of Hong Kong, the company that operated the COSCO Busan. The indictment included six felonies for allegedly falsifying documents to interfere with a federal investigation and two misdemeanor counts of criminal negligence for allegedly helping to cause the spill. The company offered to plead guilty to the misdemeanors. This federal criminal case was resolved when Fleet paid $10 million in fines and restitution. $8 million went to a victim/witness fund and $2 million went to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation to be used for environmental projects in the Bay Area.
On October 23, 2008, the California state Board of Pilot Commissioners released a report, saying the spill was the result of a series of mistakes by the maritime pilot
Maritime pilot
A pilot is a mariner who guides ships through dangerous or congested waters, such as harbours or river mouths. With the exception of the Panama Canal, the pilot is only an advisor, as the captain remains in legal, overriding command of the vessel....
Captain John Cota. The 18-page report found Cota had made seven serious errors in piloting the ship, including failing to correctly read an electronic chart on the ship, sailing in fog
Fog
Fog is a collection of water droplets or ice crystals suspended in the air at or near the Earth's surface. While fog is a type of stratus cloud, the term "fog" is typically distinguished from the more generic term "cloud" in that fog is low-lying, and the moisture in the fog is often generated...
so thick that he could see only 200 feet ahead and sailing at an unsafe speed. Cota faced seven federal charges for spilling oil and killing federally protected birds.
On March 6, 2009, Cota negotiated a plea agreement with prosecutors to federal water pollution and migratory bird killing charges. The agreement called for him to serve two to ten months in prison and included a fine between $3,000 and $30,000. On July 10, he was sentenced to 10 months imprisonment.
On September 19, 2011, federal, state, and local agencies announced a final comprehensive civil settlement for $44.4 million. It included the following:
$32.2 million for natural resource damages (to be spent on restoration projects)
$1.25 million for state penalties.
$10.9 million for unpaid government response and assessment costs
Bay Area impact
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
North Coast
North Coast, California
The North Coast of California is a region which commonly includes Marin, Sonoma, Mendocino, Humboldt, and Del Norte counties...
, including the Golden Gate National Recreation Area
Golden Gate National Recreation Area
The Golden Gate National Recreation Area is a U.S. National Recreation Area administered by the National Park Service that surrounds the San Francisco Bay area. It is one of the most visited units of the National Park system in the United States, with over 13 million visitors a year...
, Ocean Beach
Ocean Beach, San Francisco, California
Ocean Beach is a beach that runs along the west coast of San Francisco, California, United States, at the Pacific Ocean. It is adjacent to Golden Gate Park, the Richmond District and the Sunset District. The Great Highway runs alongside the beach, and Cliff House and the site of the former Sutro...
and the Marin Headlands
Marin Headlands
The Marin Headlands is a hilly area at the southernmost end of Marin County, California, just north of the Golden Gate Bridge. The Headlands are located just north of San Francisco, immediately across the Golden Gate Bridge. The entire area is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area...
.
More than 50 public beaches were closed, including Crissy Field
Crissy Field
Crissy Field is a former airfield, now a part of the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy in San Francisco, California, United States. Historically a part of the Presidio of San Francisco, Crissy Field was closed as an airfield and eventually the National Park Service took control over it...
, Fort Point, Baker Beach
Baker Beach
Baker Beach is a public beach on the peninsula of San Francisco, California, U.S.. The beach lies on the shore of the Pacific Ocean to the northwest of the city...
, China Beach and Kirby Cove.
By 14 November 2007, beaches as far south as Pacifica, California
Pacifica, California
Pacifica is a city in San Mateo County, California, on the coast of the Pacific Ocean between San Francisco and Half Moon Bay.-Overview:The City of Pacifica is spread along a six mile stretch of the north central California coastal beach and hills, nestled in several small valleys spanning between...
had been closed due to the spill.
Richmond's
Richmond, California
Richmond is a city in western Contra Costa County, California, United States. The city was incorporated on August 7, 1905. It is located in the East Bay, part of the San Francisco Bay Area. It is a residential inner suburb of San Francisco, as well as the site of heavy industry, which has been...
shoreline and wildlife were seriously affected by the spill. Beaches and shorelines were closed, but later reopened. However, access was still restricted as of December 2007. The government organizations responsible for the cleanup response and recovery devoted much effort to the East Bay and Rodeo Beach since they were the areas most impacted. The Rodeo Beach and Albany Beach segments were the last ones to be signed off as cleaned because of the additional maintenance and monitoring that were required.
Environmental
Herring
Herring is an oily fish of the genus Clupea, found in the shallow, temperate waters of the North Pacific and the North Atlantic oceans, including the Baltic Sea. Three species of Clupea are recognized. The main taxa, the Atlantic herring and the Pacific herring may each be divided into subspecies...
, which typically enter the bay in December, were killed in areas affected by the spill. It is estimated that 14 to 29% of the herring spawn in winter 2007-8 were lost due to the spill.
Economic
Several fisheries in the Bay Area may have been affected by the spill and the crab and sport fishing seasons were postponed by several weeks. As of November 30, State biologists had tested more than 1100 samples of fish, mussels and Dungeness crab in San Francisco Bay and coastal waters outside the Golden Gate. The tests found unsafe levels of contaminants in mussels from Rodeo Beach and the Berkeley pier.An estimated 1,079,900 recreational use days were also lost as a result of the spill. This includes general shoreline use as well as recreational fishing and boating.
Total monetary damages were estimated at $2.1 million for the ship, $1.5 million for the bridge's fender, and more than $70 million for oil spill cleanup.
Volunteering
Initial official releases from public agencies warned against involvement of volunteers, and worked to deflect volunteers into non-contact activities. This included asking people to act as drivers for bird transport, or as support staff to other efforts. The U.S. Coast Guard directed volunteers to clean non-oiled beaches.For the first few days OSHA
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
The United States Occupational Safety and Health Administration is an agency of the United States Department of Labor. It was created by Congress of the United States under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, signed by President Richard M. Nixon, on December 29, 1970...
rules were interpreted as requiring HAZWOPER
HAZWOPER
HAZWOPER is an acronym for Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response. It refers to five types of hazardous waste operations conducted in the United States under OSHA Standard 1910.120 "Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response." The standard contains the safety requirements...
certification, a minimum of 24 hours of classroom time, before involvement in any effort that may result in oil contact. Eventually, and after significant pressure from would-be volunteers, a four-hour "Disaster Service Worker Volunteer Certification" subset of the course was offered. OSHA rules require exactly 240 minutes of classroom time, and the certification is valid for only one incident, e.g., this oil spill.
Cleanup timeline
The O'Brien's Group
-Background:Company founder Jim O'Brien fought his first oil spill in 1969 as an officer with the United States Coast Guard. In 1983 he retired to form his own company, O'Brien's Oil Pollution Service, known as "OOPS Inc.", in Slidell, Louisiana. O'Brien soon gained fame in the 1980s as the "Red...
handled the official disaster response. On 11 November 2007, cleanup and reports were focused on damage assessment of the COSCO Busan. Oil-soaked birds were put in boxes and driven to the San Francisco Bay Oiled Wildlife Care and Education Center in Fairfield
Fairfield, California
Fairfield is a city located in Solano County in Northern California, USA. It is generally considered the midpoint between the cities of San Francisco and Sacramento, approximately from the city center of both cities, approximately from the city center of Oakland, less than from Napa Valley, 18...
to be rehabilitated by University of California, Davis
University of California, Davis
The University of California, Davis is a public teaching and research university established in 1905 and located in Davis, California, USA. Spanning over , the campus is the largest within the University of California system and third largest by enrollment...
, veterinary medical students, and as of 25 November, some birds were returned to the wild.
Aftermath
On 21 December 2007, COSCO Busan sailed out of San Francisco Bay en route to BusanBusan
Busan , formerly spelled Pusan is South Korea's second largest metropolis after Seoul, with a population of around 3.6 million. The Metropolitan area population is 4,399,515 as of 2010. It is the largest port city in South Korea and the fifth largest port in the world...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
with a new crew under her new name Hanjin Venezia. US$1.5 million in repairs were completed to the bridge fender, three weeks ahead of schedule and $500,000 under budget around the same time.
See also
- List of oil spills
- SS Cape Mohican oil spillSS Cape Mohican (T-AKR-5065)The SS Cape Mohican is a sea barge heavy lift ship in the service of the Military Sealift Command .She was laid down on 15 July 1971 as Tillie Lykes under Maritime Administration contract at General Dynamics Shipyard in Quincy, Massachusetts. She was launched on 23 September 1972 and delivered on...