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SAN FRANCISCO (Map, News) - Some of the cancer-causing gunk that spilled from the Cosco Busan’s fuel tank 12 days ago has dissolved into the Bay; some has attached to flotsam and sunk; and some has lined the Bay’s floor, where it’s expected to kill and contaminate fish, crabs and the microscopic life that feed the marine ecosystem, according to scientists, fishermen and environmental groups.
Nearly two-thirds of the 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel that spilled into the Bay after the 900-foot container ship hit the Bay Bridge is unaccounted for, but officials say they haven’t surveyed the Bay or ocean floor to find out how much settled there. Bunker fuel is a cheap and heavy fuel used in ships.
“Some of the material in the bunker fuel will dissolve into the water column and some of it will sink,” said Jen Kovecses, an aquatic ecologist at the nonprofit San Francisco Bay Keeper. “It’s not easy to remove.”
Dissolved fuel and fuel additives are absorbed through fish gills, according to Kovecses, and accumulate in mussels, polychaete worms and other water-filtering critters that are eaten by bigger creatures.
Benzene and naphthalene, found in bunker fuel, cause cancer, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Gooey bunker fuel, which is left behind after higher-grade fuels are distilled from crude oil, is blended with other fuels and oils to make it runny enough for ship engines. Preliminary tests suggest the Cosco Busan’s fuel had been blended with diesel, San Francisco Bay Keeper Program Director Sejal Choksi said. Diesel contains benzene and similar cancer-causing toxins, according to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry.
Toxins could linger under the surface of the Bay for decades, Save The Bay Executive Director David Lewis warned.
A U.S. Coast Guard statement issued Sunday said that tiny balls of fuel and sand can resurface hours or days after they sink, but the properties of bunker fuel mean all of it stayed afloat or washed ashore.
But fishermen tell a different story.
“I went in very shallow at Angel Island,” commercial fisherman Ernie Koepf said, “and the boat bounced on the rocks on the bottom and kicked up an oil slick.”
Koepf, who advises the California Department of Fish and Game on Pacific herring, asked the department to survey the Bay floor after it canceled an annual underwater vegetation survey.
“If they don’t want to dive because they’ll get oily,” Koepf said, “then we want to be involved in some other method of sampling the hard substrate and the vegetation.”
The water beneath the site of the Cosco Busan crash is used by herring and other baitfish.
“We have now really done something quite awful,” Bay Institute scientist Tina Swanson said, “to what was one of the only healthy parts of the Bay.”
Comments from Examiner Readers
6:17 AM MST on Sat., Dec. 29, 2007 re: "Cosco Busan owners pay $80M to leave"
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6:12 AM MST on Sat., Dec. 29, 2007
re: "Tests show Bay water is clean"
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11:56 PM MST on Thu., Dec. 20, 2007
re: "Cosco Busan owners pay $80M to leave"
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1:23 PM MST on Thu., Dec. 20, 2007
re: "Group turns oil into food for ’shrooms"
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10:30 AM MST on Tue., Dec. 11, 2007
re: "Bay spill lawsuits pour in"
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1:50 PM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Supervisor slams response to oil spill"
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12:40 PM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Supervisor slams response to oil spill"
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12:00 PM MST on Tue., Dec. 4, 2007
re: "Supervisor slams response to oil spill"
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9:34 PM MST on Thu., Nov. 29, 2007
re: "Waters now safe, fishing to resume"
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9:32 AM MST on Thu., Nov. 29, 2007
re: "Bay Bridge bumper bits lost"
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11:34 AM MST on Mon., Nov. 26, 2007
re: "Birds death toll continues climb following oil spill"
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Examiner Reader said:
Examiner Reader said: The ship's destination was QINQDAO (Tsingtao), China, not Korea as reported above. 7 agree | 6 disagree Vote on this comment: I agree or I disagree How does one disagree with a statement of provable fact?
151 agree | 141 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
"Additionally, state officials said that tests conducted by a California Department of Fish and Game biologist last week that found what seemed to be oil found in local herring fisheries were “inclusive,” according to Lt. Rob Roberts of the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response." Perhaps "inconclusive" was intended
125 agree | 102 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The ship's destination was QINQDAO (Tsingtao), China, not Korea as reported above.
160 agree | 164 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
The Coast Guard did not turn away the Fire Department boat that came to investigate. That is false. The Coast Guard did, inform them of the 100 yard safey zoen around the Cosco Busan after the incident occurred. The statement implies that the Coast Guard is covering up this incident, which is ridiculous.
194 agree | 148 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Hey, SFoff, I live in SF and yes my county did fail miserably in their response. I just wonder if Dennis Herrera is really going to believe that he will get 25K for each day of the spill from Captain Cota.
138 agree | 142 disagree
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SFoff said:
Dear Examiner reader (first grade level, apparently)12:40pm. There was no mention of S.F. being the only county affected by the spill. The article was from a San Francisco Newspaper, regarding San Francisco's response to the oil spill. Not very obscure. It's all clear in context. Nobody was wondering why SF. "was not kept in the loop". He is questioning why S.F. did not enter the loop of it's own accord, considering how much "training and partnership" had been established. Are we supposed to be happy with our particular cities response because your county also failed miserably to do anything in time to prevent this problem? And BTW, S.F. is not the center of the Universe, just the Solar System, but thanks for the exaggeration!
158 agree | 169 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
... and San Francisco was the only city, the only county affected by this spill. It seems that SF is to self-centered in this incident, wondering why it was not kept in teh loop. It seems that many other cities and counties were affected by this incident. way to go SF. Show you true colors. If ross Mirkirami wants to be mayor in 2012 then he should just come out and proclaim that San Francisco is in fact, the center of the universe. Then he will get my vote
161 agree | 148 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Seems strange that we would be knocking ourselves up for something we had little control over and had misleading info about. One would think you can rely on the Coast Guard to provide accurate info, since this IS their jurisdiction, but to get the info wrong hours later and even when others are pointing out that it's a LARGE spill (and to ignore this emergency) seems unconscionable. This, to me, should be about the ship crashing into the bridge tower and the bungled response of the Coast Guard, their effect on the greater Bay Area and effective preventive measures.
160 agree | 144 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Its my understanding two-thirds of the 58,000 gallons of oil is unaccounted for and will remain so. The water quality of San Francisco Bay was questionable before this event. Some sort of blanket statement regarding the "safeness" of the bay water seems a bit dubious to me.
319 agree | 169 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Having said that black made it harder to find the missing pieces of plastic lumber, they're going to use black again for the replacement?!! Foolish.
392 agree | 138 disagree
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Examiner Reader said:
Very self indulgent of you to equate an oil spill dead birds and your situation. Get over it already.
246 agree | 186 disagree
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