The Home of Environmental Whackoism is Annointed in Oil

A big story up in Northern California (where I'm currently visiting) is the oil spill in San Francisco Bay:

SAN FRANCISCO — The entire crew of the cargo ship that sideswiped a bridge, causing San Francisco Bay's worst oil spill in nearly two decades, has been detained as part of a criminal investigation, a Coast Guard official said Sunday.

Capt. William Uberti said he notified the U.S. attorney's office on Saturday about issues involving management and communication among members of the bridge crew: the helmsman, the watch officer, the ship's master and the pilot.

The entire crew of the Cosco Busan, which disgorged 58,000 gallons of oil into the Bay on Wednesday, is being detained on the ship for questioning, said Uberti, head of the Coast Guard for Northern California.

Uberti declined to specify what problems he reported. A call to that office was not returned Sunday.

A preliminary Coast Guard investigation found that human error, not mechanical failure, caused the ship to crash into a support on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge.

The wreck left a gash nearly 100 feet long on the side of the 926-foot vessel and ruptured two of the vessel's fuel tanks, causing heavy bunker fuel to leak into the bay. The spill has killed dozens of sea birds and spurred the closure of nearly two dozen beaches and piers.

Last night my daughter and I did some shopping in Sausalito, across the bay and on the other side of the Golden Gate from San Francisco. We could see cleanup operations underway near Tiburon, several miles from the scene of the accident. There are tremendous currents in San Francisco Bay (just ask the guys who tried to escape from Alcatraz) and the oil could be carried anywhere.