Language Barrier Caused Coast Guard To Underestimate SF Bay Oil Spill

January 29, 2008 12:42 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - The first major report on the response to the Nov. 7 San Francisco Bay oil spill from a Chinese cargo ship that hit a bridge faulted the Coast Guard for underestimating the extent of the leak.

The 130-page report ordered by the Coast Guard said its junior officers' failure to understand the Chinese-speaking crew and inexperience in assessing the accident prompted them to initially estimate the oil spill from the m/v Cosco Busan at 140 gallons. After eight hours, the Coast Guard estimated that 58,000 gallons of oil actually spilled into the bay.

The report released on Monday in a news conference at Treasure Island was drafted by retired Coast Guard Reserve officer and former California Office of Spill Prevention and Response administrator Rear Adm. Carlton Moore, federal and state officials, as well as representatives from the San Francisco Department of Emergency Management, a shipping industry trade group and two environmental groups.

According to the report, the Coast Guard investigators could not get information from the Chinese chief engineer and crews and could not read the gauge forcing them to communicate through drawings, visual aids and hand signals. They ruled out getting an interpreter.

The Coast Guard investigators then made a rough calculation based on their perceptions of the size of the ruptured tanks. The low estimate of the oil spill prevented a serious clean-up response.

Coast Guard officials also did not issue a public warning until 9 p.m. while authorities turned away thousands of clean-up volunteers, the report said.