KQED Perspective: Oil Spill-We Can Do Better

Air Date: November 2007

The worst of our disastrous oil spill is now behind us. Swimmers are back in the Bay, surfers are enjoying early winter swells, even the sea lions at Pier 39 are looking happier.

But as we gaze across this magnificent bay that defines our region, many wonder how this could have happened at allóand what our leaders are doing to prevent its recurrence. We now know that a panoply of unfortunate events and bad decisions led to this tragedyómany of them preventable. Most glaring was the inaction of the first two hours of the spillóa time when immediate, decisive steps could have prevented the ensuing catastrophe.

The ultimate responsibility for oil spill response rests with the state Fish and Game Department, which is charged with carrying out the landmark Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act of 1990. On November 14th, at the height of the disaster, Governor Schwarzenegger stood on the Bayís oiled shore and promised to do everything in his power toóquoteóget answers to the hard questions. But since then, he seems to have forgotten to even ask those questions and now appears ready to assign the task of reviewing response and prevention programs to Fish and Game, the very agency responsible for supervising them.

A group of dedicated conservationists, led by the Ocean Conservancy, propose a better idea: appoint a special commission of outside experts to review the departmentís performance and propose improvements. This is entirely consistent with the intention of the original Act, which Californians wisely passed 17 years ago in the wake of the Exxon Valdez disaster. Itís the right thing to do.

As our Governor said, we face hard questions, and we deserve direct answers. The best wayóthe only wayóto get them is through an independent review, unbiased by political calculations. We must urge the Governor and Legislature to do what it takes to prevent this from happening againóever.

This isnít just for our own future well-being. We owe this to the snowy plovers, Western grebes, surf scoters, murres and cormorantsóperhaps more than 20,000óthat lost their lives due to bad luck and bureaucratic bungling.

We can do better.

With a perspective, Iím John Racanelli.