If you were casually reading the news in the last couple days, you might think that there were some playful hijinks afoot in that magnificent, if a bit tricky, shipping channel some of us call the Bay. It was initially reported that a pilot ran a 65,000 ton ship into the Bay Bridge, carving a gash in its side and spilling 140 gallons of oil. The number was eventually revised to upwards of 58,000 gallons and the oil is now spreading far beyond the impact site.
Yet the following day the Chronicle’s headline was not “Environmental Catastrophe!” or even “Damn, That’s a Shit-ton of Crude!” but “Crunch!”, as if to highlight the mechanical spectacle of it all. Still, with all the pictures coming in and the news reports sitting at the top of the Most Emailed lists, it’s clear that the public, at least, is concerned. I can’t help but think of the environmental aftershocks of this event and feel like one of the surfers interviewed: superdepressed.
Maybe this isn’t the Exxon Valdez, but it’s not the first time an oil spill has spoiled the waters here. 40,000 gallons in 1996; 420,000 gallons (!) in 1988; 26,000 gallons in 1986; and 20,000 gallons in 1971 when two oil tankers collided under the Golden Gate Bridge. Scientists and Exxon are still arguing about the health of Prince William Sound almost 20 years later. But it’s all too clear that in the 21st century, with our atmosphere warming, our natural resources dwindling, and our waters polluted, we are swimming in oil.
