At the end of this email is a copy of an article from yesterday’s San Francisco Chronicle, “Some say Richmond beaches, birds were overlooked after oil spill.”

Also an article from the Novato Advance about Novatans who came to Richmond and defied officials to save birds. Noted one of the Novato based “Richmond Renegades,”  “There was no official response in (the Richmond) area. We’re all basically renegade volunteers,” said Rufo, who, like her Richmond Renegade friends, has previous wildlife rescue experience. “It’s just really sad that people have to do this almost illegally.”

As a personal note, I resent the response of government officials at all levels who continue to warn ordinary people that helping out is so risky or requires such a high level of expertise that only properly trained individuals can participate. That kind of response may be appropriate if government is doing its job and people are interfering. But that is not the case here. There was a complete breakdown of government action at all levels, and when people jumped in to fill the gap, all government could do was what it does best, be officious.

I noted the following from an article in today’s San Francisco Chronicle about the mandatory training in Berkeley and San Francisco yesterday (which was not prepared for the number of people who showed up):

Some volunteers were frustrated that they had to undergo training - covering such topics as the molecular structure of benzene and the flammability of different vapors - when all they want to do is help birds.

They also questioned why the training is only applicable to this particular spill, and why it has taken a week for the classes to be offered.

Lisa Houston, an opera singer from Kensington, said she and some friends visited the beach at the foot of Ashby Avenue several times to shovel globs of oil with kitty litter scoops before the police told them to leave.

"When I buy toxic furniture cleaner, I just read the warning label, do what it says and I'm good to go," she said at the training. "We need 10 minutes of training to do this, not half a day."

Meanwhile, I have collected information from a variety of sources about the situation in Richmond and what, if anything, people can do to help. Unfortunately, this information is not always consistent.

From the Richmond City Manager’s Weekly Report, November 16, 2007:

Update on the Oil Spill Impact to the City of Richmond

Lynne Scarpa, the City of Richmond’s Industrial Waste Inspector, has provided the following update on the impact of the recent oil spill on San Francisco Bay:

This week the Bay Trail from Meeker Slough (behind the U.C. Field Station) to the beaches in Vincent Park were closed to anyone not engaged in the oil spill clean-up or bird rescue activities.  The California Department of Fish and Game, assisted by trained bird rescuers from the Wildlife Care Network and residents versed in bird handling, have been using the beaches in this area to rescue oil damaged birds. The rescue effort has been conducted in the evening as it is easier to capture the birds when dark.

Initially, the clean-up of the beaches and rocky shoreline (mostly man-made rip rap) was conducted by the Contra Costa County Health Department, Hazardous Materials Division; however, the work is now being supervised by the Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) and their contractors.  Personnel from the City of Richmond Parks Department, Engineering Department, and volunteers from the Police Department and community, have been assisting with the effort to inform and keep citizens out of harm’s way near the affected areas.

Except for the beaches and Bay Trail, Vincent Park remains open for public use.  Shimada Park is closed from time to time when clean-up crews are using the parking lot as a staging area.  Although these parks remain open, residents are encouraged to walk their dogs and exercise around the Marina for the next few weeks.  Oiled wildlife and sick birds are less likely to seek refuge in a more urban harbor setting.

The East Bay Regional Park District is keeping the Bay Trail open from the Meeker Slough area, south to the Albany mud flats, as this is a well used commuter route. They have closed Keller Beach and the beach area at Ferry Point, including the pier where fishing is prohibited for the time being.

We will continue to keep you informed.

From Bruce Beyaert of TRAC, November 16, 2007 (beyaert@earthlink.net, phone/fax 510-235-2835)

:

Today, I visited East Bay Regional Park District's Incident Command Center and was very impressed to see/learn about all that our regional park district has done and is doing to have the Coast Guard/ Dept of Fish and Game Unified Command Center recognize and direct resources toward the oiled shorelines and birds of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties. These counties were ignored by the Coast Guard immediately following the spill until EBRPD alerted the Unified Command Center (UCC) about the extent of damage and was invited to send a representative to participate in the UCC. Initially, EBRPD had to educate the UCC about the locations of valuable wetland resources in the East Bay and the need to boom and belatedly protect them. Now, through their Incident Command Center and field staff, EBRPD is continuing to monitor conditions and request resources for booming and clean up.

EBRPD staff also have been trained and are directly involved in all aspects of oil spill cleanup and bird rescue within the regional shoreline parks located in Richmond and Oakland and in Eastshore State Park, which they also maintain. For example, EBRPD staff have been out day and night to rescue 150 live oiled birds for treatment by the International Bird Rescue Center facility in Cordelia and pickup 50 dead oiled birds. Most of these 200 birds are from Richmond's Brooks Island and along the Bay Trail between Point Isabel and Marina Bay.

The new effort is "pre-cleanup" to remove shoreline debris above the high water mark to prevent/diminish potential oil residue contamination along the shoreline in preparation for the highest tides of the year Nov. 21 -28. The locations selected for this work have not yet received oil contamination on shore so hazardous materials training is not necessary.

Folks should visit http://www.ebparks.org/node/538 for information about helping with this and the latest updates from EBRPD.

From Nancy Skinner, Director, Ward 1, EBRPD, November 16, 2007

East Bay Regional Park District has 2 opportunities for non-trained volunteers to help in preventative clean up of two shoreline sites - Pt Pinole in Richmond and Crown Beach in Alameda. This preventative action is to clean debris off beaches up to the watermark line so damage from oil brought up in next high tide or storm action is minimized.

Clean up will start tomorrow Saturday 9am at both Point Pinole and Crown Beach. Volunteers must be 18 years or older, wear thick soled shoes and bring leather or other sturdy gloves AND call 544-2201 to RSVP to EBRPD that they want to join clean up. Leaving voice mail message as RSVP is fine.

Please spread the word to people who want to help but may not have participated in haz mat trainings that are going on in Berkeley and elsewhere.

As to other Park District clean up activities: Tomorrow the Park District will be deploying haz mat trained volunteers for beach cleaning at Miller Knox & Keller Beach in Richmond, Albany Beach and Ashby Beach (Berk-Emeryville border). These volunteers have already been identified so this is not a call for more, just FYI.

Park District staff are also continuing bird rescue efforts at Brooks Island, Pt Isabel and Albany Bulb. This effort involves trained Park District staff and again is not a call for volunteers, just FYI

Golden Gate Audubon is sending out volunteers who are checking shoreline for oiled bird sightings to call those sightings in to appropriate rescue efforts. People who want to participate in this sighting effort can check GGAS website or contact Michael Martin - who is included in this e-mail list.

From Nancy Powell, Operations Manager, Mickaboo Companion Bird Rescue, www.mickaboo.org, November 16, 2007 (nancyp2@gmail.com):

I'd like to start a Yahoo group of people interested in specifically pursuing the pathetic response to wildlife rescue.  If you want to be part of that group, we can focus this discussion more accurately and begin to look for answers to my questions and yours.

From Susie Davis, poserdlx@sbcglobal.net, November 15, 2007:

To report oiled wildlife, please call 415-701-2311

To file a claim for oiled property, please call 888-850-8486

Note that the oil sightings number is a different number than oiled wildlife. I would call the above oiled wildlife number. If that's already been done, I would call emergency response at EPA R9. They can call me if they want, (Marc Mowrey 415 972 3324) and I will forward to emergency response.

Some say Richmond beaches, birds were overlooked after oil spill

Christopher Heredia,Kevin Fagan, Chronicle Staff Writers

Friday, November 16, 2007

An ad hoc group of bird rescuers say waterfowl oiled from last week's spill in the bay are being neglected by government officials on Richmond's beaches and so they are taking matters into their own hands, going up and down the city's shoreline trying to keep dogs and joggers from chasing the fragile creatures back into the bay.

The group of 12 East Bay residents has collected 50 oiled birds since last Friday and sent them to be cleaned at the International Bird Rescue Research Center in Cordelia.

Volunteers said in recent days large swaths of the Richmond waterfront remained open and people and their pets were scaring sick birds back into the water, further threatening their chances for survival. They said they complained to state and city officials to no avail.

"I wish there had been a better official response earlier," said volunteer bird rescuer Lisa Owens of Berkeley, who started working Friday with other volunteers to net as many oiled birds as possible. "We're trying to step in where we see this huge vacuum."

On Thursday, their pleas for help appeared to have been answered. Contractors for the Coast Guard as well as crews from East Bay Regional Park District were out cleaning and cordoning off the shoreline and looking for injured and dead birds.

Owens, who learned how to handle wild birds as an employee and volunteer for a Marin rehabilitation hospital, said her group plans to reconvene Friday and collect any birds the international rescue center and park district workers haven't been able to capture.

"I'm glad we've picked up every bird we've picked up," Owens said. "It's better than having them out there freezing to death or being eaten by a predator and have this toxic waste going further up the food chain."

The volunteers are not alone in criticizing the official response in Richmond, which has 32 miles of shoreline.

"There needs to be a far greater state and official response," said Richmond Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, who plans a meeting this morning for people interested in volunteering in the cleanup effort.

Contra Costa County hazardous materials specialist Eric Jonsson said crews from his office were in the field assessing the damage from the spill and planning for cleanup beginning Nov. 8, the morning after the Cosco Busan container ship crashed into the Bay Bridge.

Since then, they've combed beaches along Richmond's shoreline half a dozen times, collecting two tons of oil and tar, which began showing up midmorning Nov. 8. Booms were set out to protect sensitive habitats offshore around Brooks Island and onshore leading to the Hoffman Slough.

"We feel good most of the beaches in Richmond are clean," Jonsson said. People who see oil on Richmond's shoreline should call Contra Costa hazardous materials officials at (925) 646-2286. The hot line for reporting oiled birds or animals is (510) 544-2201.

Coast Guard Petty Officer Jonathan Cilley said shoreline assessment teams were out last Friday and found moderate oil on Richmond beaches. He denied the accusations by volunteers that Richmond's shoreline got short shrift.

"We can't hit every beach at the same time," he said. "Our crews are doing the best they can to arrive at these beaches and get them restored to how they were before."

A spokeswoman for the East Bay Regional Park District said dozens of cleanup crews and volunteers have been out along the district's 21 miles of beaches and shoreline and they have collected 100 live, oiled birds.

"This is an evolving situation, a horrible situation," said spokeswoman Carol Johnson. "We applaud the volunteers. We are out there doing the best we can."

But she and others cautioned those who try to clean up oil themselves to do so only after receiving training. The bunker fuel is toxic, and the history of other spills does not bode well for anyone venturing out with gloves but no special knowledge.

After the spill of 67,000 tons of oil in 2002 from the Prestige tanker off Spain's coast, more than 1,500 cleanup workers reported headaches, rashes and breathing troubles. And lawsuits are still being heard from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill of 11 million gallons of oil in Alaska, charging that thousands of workers were hurt.

Marilyn Raia, a civil lawyer in San Francisco who specializes in maritime law, said if volunteers pick up oil on their own without proper training, they won't have much standing to bring lawsuits. "People assume the risk if they go," she said.

E-mail the writers at cheredia@sfchronicle.com and kfagan@sfchronicle.com.

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/11/16/MNUBTDBMB.DTL

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

News

Novatans respond to oil spill

By Valerie Creque & Tim Omarzu
Novato Advance

Wednesday, November 14, 2007 2:11 PM PST

Novatan Maggie Rufo spent Sunday scooping up oil-soaked birds with a group of friends she nicknamed the “Richmond Renegades.”

Armed with long-handled fishing nets and garbed in official-looking, white, polyethelene jumpsuits, the bird lovers roamed the Richmond shoreline, catching oiled birds that they put into cardboard pet carriers and took to an ad hoc bird rescue station nearby. They didn’t heed official warnings to let officials handle the bird-collecting.

 “There was no official response in (the Richmond) area. We’re all basically renegade volunteers,” said Rufo, who, like her Richmond Renegade friends, has previous wildlife rescue experience. “It’s just really sad that people have to do this almost illegally.”

Although oil didn’t reach Novato’s shoreline, Rufo and other Novato residents and agencies took part in the response to the Nov. 7 spill of fuel oil that gushed from the Cosco Busan  after the container ship slammed into one of the towers that support the Bay Bridge during heavy fog.

Animal control officers with the Novato-based Marin Humane Society transported almost 200 oil-soaked birds, said Humane Society spokeswoman Sheri Cardo.

“We’ve been working at this 24/7,” Cardo said.

People were dropping off birds at the Humane Society’s headquarter on Bel Marin Keys Boulevard and dropping them off at seven staging areas around the county. Animal control officers delivered the birds to the WildCare wildlife rehabilitation center in downtown San Rafael.

There, the birds were weighed and inspected for injuries before being transferred to the International Bird Research and Rescue Center in Cordelia, just south of Fairfield, which is capable of treating 1,000 animals.

“They’re coming from all over the county,” Cardo said. “Sadly, a lot of them were dead on arrival.”

The oil spill had Novato police and firefighters contemplating “what-ifs,” in case the fuel reached Novato. Emergency officials participated in conference calls with officials from the Marin County Emergency Operations Center and kept a watchful eye as the fuel drifted north, passing the Richmond/San Rafael Bridge.

The Marin County Hazardous Materials Team, which includes members from agencies throughout the county, is ready for action.

“They’ve been briefed and they know what to expect,” said Novato fire spokeswoman Sandy Wargo.

The team will be on hand not only for beach cleanup, but also for people who have come in contact with the oil.

 A person can’t just wash off in the shower,” Wargo said, adding that the oil will go down the drain, causing further contamination. “It’s not just oil, it’s contaminants.”

Aerial and water exploration conducted Tuesday revealed that most of the oil has now dissipated, according to the Office of Emergency Services, and the only sheen of oil observed within Marin County waters was found in Racoon Strait between Angel Island and Tiburon.

Oil from the spill has been reported in other areas of Marin County.

“They’ve seen some residue of oil and tar balls on Stinson Beach,” said Bruce Stahley, Marin County’s emergency services coordinator.

Stahley said some residents in the Bolinas and Stinson Beach area used their own boats to help with the cleanup effort.

They were out there trying to distribute that booming material,” Stahley said.

A strike team of about eight people from the Hamilton-based U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary is on scene assisting with the bay cleanup, according to Richard Celia, vice flotilla commander.

“It’s bad, but it’s not catastrophic,” Celia said of the spill.

As of Tuesday afternoon, 12,270 gallons of liquid oil have been recovered and a total of 16,910 gallons have been accounted for, according to the Office of Emergency Services.

More than 1,500 people across the Bay Area are participating in the spill response, including more than 450 responders in Marin County, the emergency services office reported.

According to Stahley, the Oiled Wildlife Care Network at the Cordelia bird treatment facility reported that 652 live birds and 485 dead birds have been received in their facilities.

The public is strongly advised against disturbing oiled wildlife or attempting to remove oiled materials. To report oiled wildlife, call (415) 701-2311 or (877) 823-6926. To report oil sightings, call (985) 781-0804. For information about volunteering, visit www.californiavolunteers.org.