Coast Guard Under Fire Over Oil Spill

As 1.6 million shorebirds and waterfowl alight in San Francisco Bay for their annual winter stop, the Coast Guard is coming under increasing fire for failing to adequately respond to an oil spill that has fouled the waters.

While volunteers and work crews strive to wash off the hundreds of birds that have been recovered, Congress grilled Coast Guard officials, who admitted mistakes and ousted a key person involved in the response, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

The Coast Guard acknowledged that it had failed to test the ship's crew for drugs in a timely way, as required by law, and Capt. William Uberti, who led the response, was relieved of his post (whether or not he was fired was unclear).

The estimated $100 million price tag of the spill response — leaving aside the toll on wildlife — is a reminder that preventing the next spill is much cheaper than waiting to clean it up. That's why getting to the truth about what went wrong in the hours after the spill — more than laying blame — is so important.

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