Emergency hearing held for bay spill

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 15, 2007 (KGO) (KGO) -- The first state hearing into the bay oil spill disaster is underway today. Two assembly leaders are holding this emergency meeting to get to the bottom of what went wrong and how to prevent a repeat.

The Coast Guard did not show up for the hearing. State officials have a lot of questions for the Coast Guard but the state was told by the Coast Guard that they were only going to answer to federal officials. The state lawmakers are frustrated; they say this is an example of the lack of communication that there has been throughout this disaster.

State Assembly members Loni Hancock and Mark Leno called the hearing to look at what the state could have done differently in response to the spill. They say you can bet they will be proposing new legislation in January to prepare for the next spill.

The attitude at the hearing is that the local government needs to look out for the local people and resources or nobody else will.

"The federal government isn't going to protect us; the Coast Guard is going to get it wrong; we need to make sure that our state government does protect us and our local people who are ready to go out on those beaches and clean them up and our local governments have the tools that they need," said Assm. Loni Hancock (D) Berkeley.

The Assembly members say they will be looking for possible laws that they can propose to help with the response the next time. They are wondering if maybe more tugboats are needed, if volunteers can be trained now so that they can be prepared before the next disaster hits, they want to know if local governments need to be supplied with booms. They say they have a plan and even though you are hearing about all these different hearings on Capitol Hill and the criminal investigation going on - you can bet that you are going to see local action taken as well.

The following phone numbers have been established for the public to call:

• To report oil sightings, please call 985-781-0804
• To report oiled wildlife, please call 877-823-6926
• To submit a claim for oiled property, please call 888-850-8486

Information can also be found at the following sites:

• www.uscgsanfrancisco.com
• www.incidentnews.gov

There will be a volunteer training for the Cosco Busan oil spill clean-up in San Mateo County at Ides Hall, 735 Main St., Half Moon Bay at 5 p.m.. If you would like more information you can contact (650) 726-8288.

You can also call the oil spill volunteer hotline with announcements on upcoming training opportunities at (650) 363-4099 or the public information hot line (415) 399-7305, or Beverly Thames - the San Mateo County Health Department spokeswoman (650) 573-3935 or (650) 867-1661.

Donations to help oiled birds can be dropped off at the Oiled Wildlife Care Network's trailer in the parking lot of 201 University Avenue in Berkeley.

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