Date of incident: November 7, 2007.
Location: Central San Francisco Bay, California.
Trustees:
Case status:
Final Restoration Plan approved and restoration underway.
Overview: The container ship M/V Cosco Busan
struck one of the towers of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge in San
Francisco Bay, CA, at 8:30 am PST November 7, 2007. The impact tore a large gash
in the hull of the vessel, and 53,000 gallons of fuel oil (IFO 380) was released
into the water. The oil quickly spread to other parts of San Francisco Bay and
the outer coast (north and south of the Golden Gate), washing ashore along many
miles of sensitive coastline, including beaches, rocky intertidal habitats,
coastal lagoons and wetlands. While response agencies worked to contain and
clean up the oil, the natural resource Trustees initiated a natural resource
damage assessment (NRDA). The Lead Administrative Trustee agency is the
California Department of Fish and Game. The Responsible Parties (RPs) worked
cooperatively with the Trustees in planning and carrying out NRDA activities.
In January 2012 the Federal District Court approved a $44 million settlement which resolved all natural resource damages, penalties, and response costs that resulted from the spill. In March 2012 the Final Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan was released. This plan summarizes the injuries to wildlife, habitat, and recreational uses from the oil spill that occurred on Nov. 7, 2007. It also describes a number of restoration projects for which implementation will begin as early as spring of 2012, to compensate for injuries from the spill.
