Date of incident: November 7, 2007.
Location: Central San Francisco Bay, California.
Trustees:
Case status:
Draft Restoration Plan released for public comment.
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 September 2011, the Trustees filed a proposed settlement with the RPs in the federal district court in San Francisco. The Trustees also released a Draft Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan containing projects to be funded by the settlement that will restore injured natural resources. Both documents are currently available for public comment. For additional information, please see the Cosco Busan settlement press release, restoration plan press release, and newsletter.
