Saturday, November 10, 2007

Spill in San Francisco



Via Save the Waves:

On Wednesday morning, the container ship Cosco Busan, owned by China COSCO Holdings Co. Ltd. and leased to South Korea's Hanjin Group, struck a tower of the Bay Bridge, creating a long slash along the ship that allowed bunker fuel to spill into the water. It's estimated that approximately 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil spilled into the San Francisco Bay, and due to tidal flow quickly spread outside of the bay. In addition to a variety of locations within SF Bay, oil has been reported as far north as Stinson Beach, as far west as the Farallon Islands, and as far south as Fort Funston (southern Ocean Beach). The surrounded Bay Area is home to hundreds of thousands of migratory birds and is extremely rich in diverse marine life. At least 16 beaches are closed throughout the Bay Area at this point, including SF's Ocean Beach and Marin's Rodeo Beach, both popular surfing areas.

Horrendous. Sadly enough, it seems like incidents like the San Francisco spill are going to keep happening as long as we maintain our dependence on fossil fuels. In the meantime, it's yet another demonstration of how important it is to keep tankers out of British Columbian waters.

Today's music is "Fast Pony for Victor Jara" by the Apostle of Hustle.

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