Seabirds rest on a breakwater pole in San Francisco Bay as the oil tanker Dubai Star, red-hulled ship in background, is seen Friday, Oct. 30, 2009, from Oakland, Calif. The U.S. Coast Guard says an oil tanker has leaked fuel into San Francisco Bay, creating a slick at least a mile long. Coast Guard Petty Officer Melissa Leake says the Panamanian-flagged Dubai Star began leaking bunker fuel during a fuel transfer Friday morning. Officials don't know exactly how much has spilled into the water about 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) southeast of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

Fuel leak more than a mile long in S.F. Bay

MARY CALLAHAN
THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

Enough heavy bunker fuel to create a mile-long sheen spilled into the San Francisco Bay early Friday as a Panamanian-flagged tanker transferred fuel from a barge, the U.S. Coast Guard said.

The Dubai Star was at Anchorage 9 near the Oakland Airport and about 2 1/2 miles southeast of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge when the fuel was spilled into the bay in an alarming reminder of a catastrophic spill nearby two years earlier, officials said.

Coast Guard Lt. Junior Grade Jeremy Pichette said vessel officials indicated there had been a rupture in a fuel line.

?We?re trying to figure out right now what happened,? Petty Officer Erik Swanson, a Coast Guard spokesman, said.

He said he did not know at what rate the fuel spilled or whether it still was emptying into the bay.

Swanson said the Coast Guard ?responded immediately? to the first report of the new spill Friday at 6:48 a.m.

Officials said a small boat was sent to the site, and a skimmer vessel was dispatched to begin containment efforts.

Air support also was slated to help assess the spill, while a contract agency with 2,500 feet of containment boom was en route to deploy the boom from elsewhere in the Bay Area, he said.

The Coast Guard also was notifying other responders per its updated Regional Response Plan designed to engage as many resources as possible to the spill.

A 100-yard security zone was placed around the vessel and spill site while accident investigators, oil and pollution experts investigated the cause of the spill and it?s potential impacts.

?The Coast Guard would like to assure the public that we are taking every possible measure to ensure that this spill is cleaned up in the quickest possible manner to minimize environmental damage,? Pichette said in a written statement. ?Though it is not the Coast Guard?s role to clean the spill, we are helping with every facet of the response.?

On Nov. 7, 2007, the 53,000-gallon Cosco Busan spilled oil into San Francisco Bay when the Hong Kong-flagged freighter struck a Bay Bridge tower in thick fog. The Coast Guard was criticized following that spill for its response.

Friday morning there were no indications of any collisions or accidents related to the fuel spilled from the Dubai Star.

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