Coast Guard Delay in Oil Spill ‘Abysmal’

Californians reacted with outrage to the lack of response by U.S. Coast Guard officials to a massive oil spill off the coast of San Francisco.

A ship hit the base of the Bay Bridge Wednesday morning spilling nearly 60,000 gallons into the San Francisco Bay. Initial Coast Guard estimates placed the spill at 140 gallons.

Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., said Coast Guard statements claiming they responded appropriately were just unacceptable.

The San Francisco Chronicle obtained Coast Guard logs of the event stating they realized the size of the spill at 4:49 pm – nearly 8 hours after the incident – and did not issue a news advisory detailing the extent of the spill for another four hours.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said it may also be necessary to conduct an independent investigation. Kathleen O’Leary, a San Francisco resident, told the Chronicle I’m really upset at the response of the Coast Guard. It’s a very disjointed effort. Abysmal.

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency Friday.

We want to clean this mess up as quickly as possible because there has been tremendous damage to the environment, tremendous damage to the wildlife and birds and so on, Schwarzenegger said.