Regional: Final Review of Cosco Busan Response Efforts Submitted

Associated Press
CBS 5
05/17/2008

A review team today announced it completed its final report on the response to the Cosco Busan oil spill in the San Francisco Bay in November.

The Incident Specific Preparedness Review team submitted the report to Vice Adm. Charles Wurster, commander of the U.S. Coast Guard Pacific Area.

The 79-page report is the second of two reports required after an incident like that of the spill Nov. 7, 2007 that leaked nearly 54,000 gallons of oil after the Cosco Busan tanker ship struck a tower fender of the Bay Bridge.

According to the Coast Guard, the report makes nearly 200 recommendations regarding topics that include preparedness and response to oiled wildlife recovery and transport, use of commercial fishing vessels for cleanup operations and shoreline treatment endpoints.

Recommendations included updating response plans and protocol, providing more adequate training for personnel, improving communication between agencies, and considering using commercial fishing vessels to help in emergency situations.

According to the Coast Guard Marine Safety Manual, the first report covers the initial two weeks of response operations and the second provides an analysis of preparedness planning requirements and the actual response.

The first report was submitted Jan. 11 and the latest report is meant to supplement it.

The report also brought up the idea of using Web sites such as YouTube.com, Wikipedia.org and blogs to obtain information from the public. The review team said that just after the spill, many community members posted video, photos and information that responding agencies did not have access to aside from the Web sites.

The review team included senior representatives from a number of agencies including the California Coastkeeper Alliance, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Office of Response and Restoration, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association and San Francisco Baykeepers.