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| Somewhat Logically: Trouble on oiled waters: learning from history |
John Hulls
2007-11-15 |
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The current oil spill brought home several history lessons. The first full day I spent in the Bay Area after leaving Boston was the same day that the Standard Oil (now Chevron) tanker Arizona Standard collided with the Oregon Standard just inside the Golden Gate at 2 a.m. As I crossed the bridge that morning, I could see the tankers locked together off Angel Island, surrounded by a huge oil slick. Over 800,000 gallons of crude were spilled. Neither ship had a pilot, relying on their captains all the way to the dock.
I called an acquaintance, the editor of the Boston Phoenix. He told me to grab my camera, find out what I could and call him back. I ended up in Stinson Beach, watching and helping in the desperate efforts of the volunteers working to protect Bolinas lagoon, sopping up oil with straw, trying to keep the oil out of the lagoon and dealing with the tragedy of oil-soaked birds. Little did I realize that 36 years later I would walk down another beach to find out about another oil spill. I realized that I have spent over half my life in California.
Last Saturday I met with Professor Laura Watt of Sonoma State University, who wrote her doctoral thesis on the management of Point Reyes National Seashore. We had planned originally to discuss the park’s legislative history but events intervened and we ended up on a wet and windy hike from Limantour down to the mouth of Drake’s Estero. Several very damp, cold people were looking at broken segment of boom, trailing half-way across the estero from the opposite side of Estero de Limantour. The chain had broken on a previous deployment attempt and they were waiting for slack tide to attempt to string the boom again.
We have learned from 1971, but not enough. Handling a ship nearly three football fields long against the massive forces of wind and water, with over 27.5 million gallons per second passing through the Gate, combined with high winds, sometimes over 50 knots, requires highly trained local skills. Pilots are now required by law on all ships over 300 tons (except a rather large loophole for those engaged in coastal trade). Ecologically, much was learned about cleaning oil from birds and a much higher percentage now survive. Equipment and planning is improving. A “SafeSeas” exercise last year deployed an armada of ships and technology involving government and environmental agencies (see NOAA’s website).
Some lessons didn’t reach down to specific local actions, especially in areas like Bolinas Lagoon and Drake’s Estero. In research conducted by the U.S. Coast Guard Center for R&D in Groton. Connecticut, conventional booming across currents over 2 knots doesn’t work. Currents exert high pressure on the booms, snapping heavy chains and cables. Even if the barrier holds, it can be forced underwater, spilling the oil.
History has repeated itself at Bolinas Lagoon, and now at Drake’s Estero. The only Bolinas boom that survived in ’71 was a home-made barrier of planks and cables, rendered partially effective only by massive volunteer labor using hay to soak up the oil and keep it out of the lagoon, all supported by a flotilla of local small boats. The best technology, according to the Coast Guard’s 2002 publications on “Oil Response in Fast Water Currents,” is short, cascaded booms overlapping at 20 degrees so that a fast current can direct the oil to a beach or area for recovery. The Coast Guard recommends field exercises in critical areas and local deployment of equipment, ready for use by trained personnel.
Walking back from Drake’s Estero into the wind and rain, Professor Watt and I discussed planning and history. Oil-spill management comes from learning from history; planning for the park’s future seems to be about rewriting history. Watt is quite clear that the legislative history of Senate Bill S2402 does not support the contention that removal of Drake’s Bay Oyster Company is required to protect the wilderness status. The bill’s co-sponsors, Senator John Tunney, testified: “Established private rights of landowners and leaseholders will continue to be respected and protected. Existing agricultural and aquaculture uses can continue.” Marin County Planning Commissioner Jerry Friedman submitted supporting testimony from many environmental groups including EAC and Tomales Bay Association. Marin’s 9th district Assemblyman Wornum stated on page 351 of the hearings that: "Finally, I believe everyone concerned supports the continued operation of oyster farming in Drakes Estero as a non-conforming use."
The Environmental Assessment of the proposed new construction for Johnston’s Oysters, dated May 1998 was printed in the August 2 2007 issue of the Point Reyes Light. On page 8, it states: “The PRNS GMP [general management plan] is currently being revised. An issue to be addressed is the long-term status of the lease agreement past 2012.” It is signed by Park Superintendent Don Neubacher. What has changed in the law since then? The savedrakesestero.org website and the Park Service solicitor now claim the legal inevitability of wilderness? Equally telling is the Seashore’s General Management Plan (GMP)Update Concepts Newsletter, published in 2003. Several of the concepts do not involve a wilderness estero; nowhere is the supposed legal mandate to remove the oyster farm to preserve wilderness even mentioned.
Returning to history, Professor Watt pointed out that the parks’s GMP, requiring full integration of all planning – cultural, historical and environmental – is almost a decade overdue. Just as in the oil spill, to be effective such plans must respect the history of matters for which they are responsible. About 10,000 piloted ship movements occur yearly through the Golden Gate. Even with near perfection, accidents are inevitable. The park has a responsibility to make sure that its plans work with the larger community to protect Point Reyes’s treasures: environmental, cultural and historical.
Professor Watt can be reached at: laura.watt@sonoma.edu. She is writing a guest column on park planning for a forthcoming issue.
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