SAN FRANCISCO — The Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife's Office of Spill Prevention and Response and other partner agencies will proceed with their plans to manage the potential pollution threat posed by the capsized vessel Spirit of Sacramento Friday.The vessel owner had until noon Friday to submit a plan for removing fuel from the vessel but did not do so.The Coast Guard and partners will continue with their two-phase approach to safely remove the fuel, which is expected to take several weeks.The Coast Guard’s boating public notice, which requires that mariners remain at least 75-feet away from the capsized vessel, remains in effect. For more information on the public notice, click here.As a precautionary measure, Contra Costa County Sheriff personnel have placed three buoys around the Spirit of Sacramento in an effort to alert mariners transiting the area of the ship’s location. Mariners are requested to exercise caution and reduce speeds when transiting in the vicinity of the capsized vessel.The Coast Guard remains in close partnership with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Contra Costa County Sheriff’s Office and other state and local partners to coordinate the response in order to most effectively leverage each agency’s jurisdictional authorities to protect the public, environment and wildlife.Further updates on the project will be issued when major decisions are made, project milestones are reached, or significant activity occurs at the site.Additional facts related to scope and funding for the incident include:
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The Coast Guard response and authority is specifically concerned with the pollution threat from the vessel.
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The Coast Guard is authorized to take response measures deemed necessary to protect the public health and welfare of the environment from pollution, but it no longer has authority once a pollution threat has been mitigated.
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As authorized by the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund may be used for the cost of pollution removal and other costs directly related to the removal of pollution, such as state access for removal activities, payments to trustees to conduct natural resource damage assessments and restorations and payments of claims for pollution removal costs and damages. The OSLTF is a federal fund comprised primarily of per-barrel taxes from the oil industry.
For more information and additional press releases, visit the Office of Spill Prevention and Response Cal Spill Watch webpage at www.wildlife.ca.gov/OSPR/CalSpillWatch.