Answers Sought After Oil Spill Lowball

Nov. 10, 2007— -- More than 58,000 gallons of oil, unleashed Wednesday morning when the tanker Cosco Busan collided with the Bay Bridge, continued to interrupt marine life and leisure activities in San Francisco on Saturday.

As of Saturday afternoon, a crew of 500 people, 11 oil skimmers, and a 38,000 foot boom, deployed to soak up the spill, had removed 20,500 gallons of oil and water from the Bay.

The Coast Guard has also enlisted 40 vessels belonging to volunteer fisherman in order stage to operation. The damaged oil tanker, which was leaving the San Francisco Bay in a shroud of thick fog when it struck the bridge, was removed from the scene and is currently moored in Oakland.

In spite of some progress in scrubbing the infected water, the city announced new closures and is still coping with the fallout of the spill, which shut down 20 beaches and jettisoned the swim competition of the annual Treasure Island Triathlon. Authorities are still investigating what caused the ruinous accident.

On the fourth day of clean-up, Coast Guard investigators were focusing on the possibility that a lapse in communication is to blame for the tanker's failure to avoid contact with the base of a Bay Bridge tower. The morning weather was responsible for poor visibility, but would not necessarily have been the cause because the ship is equipped with radar and a Global Positioning System, among other instruments that would facilitate navigation in foggy conditions.

Coast Guard personnel recorded the accident as early as 8:30 a.m. on Wednesday, initially reporting that the tanker had leaked just 140 gallons.

Twelve hours later, they corrected that number, reporting that, in fact, 58,000 gallons of oil had escaped the Cosco Basan.

The spill is significantly larger than the last notable accident, which sent 40,000 gallons of oil into Northern California waters in 1996.

Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti, captain of the Port of San Francisco, doesn't believe a delay in reporting the severity of the incident to the public caused clean-up crews to lose ground. "We mobilized as if it was a big spill right away," said Uberti.