Oil Spill

November 9th, 2007 Alex

Earlier this week, a Cosco ship container spilled 58,000 gallons of oil into the water from ramming into the Bay Bridge. It has caused a lot of environmental impact by killing a ton of sealife and polluting the beaches and waterfront spots. It is also a waste of oil especially since gas is so expensive! The worst part is that Captain John Cota, the mariner who was piloting the container, has been involved in other incidents and was reprimanded last year as shown in state regulatory documents. Although, he has been guiding ships for more than 25 years, he has had four “incidents” in the past 14 years.  This reminds me of the truck explosion that happened earlier this year as the truck driver also had previous incidents prior to his turned over truck that blew up the freeway causing the overpass to be shut down for a week. I am not really sure how I feel about these cases because even though they were accidents, they have caused a lot of damage and may have been prevented if the driver or pilot was more careful and reprimanded more seriously. However, they are also doing jobs that take a lot of care and responsibility so it may not always be their complete fault for the accidents. It is always up to the media to come up with a scapegoat or reason to blame. Before the crash, the Coast Guard had supposedly warned the pilot beforehand about his course, and there were also other reasons that were blamed such as a language communication issue, and the heavy fog.

Here is a Google Maps image of the affected areas of the spill.

via SFGate

Entry Filed under: Environment,Local