Oregon Standard/Arizona Standard; San Francisco, California

San Francisco, California | 1971-Jan-18

Initial Notification: On January 18, 1971 at 0141, the tank vesselArizona Standard struck the port side of the tank vessel Oregon Standard approximately 300 yards west of the mid span of the Golden Gate Bridge. The two vessels remained joined together while several damaged cargo tanks on the Oregon Standard began releasing bunker C fuel oil into San Francisco Bay. Contributing factors to the incident were dense fog and darkness. Spill response started almost immediately. A command post was established by 0445 by representatives from USCG District 12, the California Department of Fish and Game (CA DFG), and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Although water borne movement of cleanup and containment equipment was hampered by the dense fog, containment booms were in place around both vessels by 0630. The separation of the two vessels at 0900 resulted in an increased rate of spillage from theOregon Standard. Concentrated efforts were directed at recovering oil still within the vessel's ruptured tanks. By the evening of January 18, Standard Oil had deployed numerous personnel and equipment along shoreline areas to recover the oil as it was beached. By January 19, bird cleaning stations were established in several areas under the direction of CA DFG. Standard Oil was efficient in deploying cleanup resources well in advance of the oil movement due to good contingency planning. The oil spill reached its maximum extent by January 20. Skimming operations continued until January 27, at which time all beaches in the contaminated area were declared to be at least 95% clean. Small cleanup crews patrolled oiled beach areas until March 12, picking up small globs of oil and straw. Cleanup in the rocky out croppings of Rocky Point was completed by March 19. USCG district 11. Keyword: Contingency plan, fog, straw, boom, skimmer, vacuum truck, adverse weather conditions, California Department of Fish and Game (CA DFG), Point Reyes National Seashore, Davidson Current, manual removal..