San Francisco Oil Spill

Mayor of San Francisco Gavin Newsom threatens to take legal action against company responsible for the 58,000 gallons of oil spilled into the bay after a container ship crashed into Bay Bridge Wednesday. The damage to city property is still being assessed, and local officials said they are working with federal and regional authorities on the cleanup. Oil began leaking into the bay after the 65,131-ton 810-foot-long container ship crashed into the base of a tower of the Bay Bridge in heavy fog at about 8:30 a.m. Wednesday. the Coast Guard said only 140 gallons had spilled from the vessel only until after they conducted their own inspection of the bay they realized the spill was much greater.

U.S. Coast Guard Capt. William Uberti said the initial cleanup response was appropriate, but city officials said that if they had known the spill was 58,000 gallons earlier, they would have laid down more boom lines and responded to the event with more urgency. The swimming portion of a triathlon scheduled to take place at Treasure Island on Sunday, in which athletes were to swim in the bay as part of the race, could be canceled. City officials said that it is canceled, but race officials said it's still on, which depends entirely on how long the clean up will take. Local animal controls are caring for birds impacted by the spill and were monitoring the sea lions at Fisherman's Wharf to see whether or not they had been affected. City officials also warned people against fishing or boating in the bay. Newsom said his office learned from officials that the spill was 58,000, not 140 gallons, after 9 p.m. Wednesday evening. Newsom also said that amidst all of the blaming going on, they must further investigate to see what happened.