Local oil refineries plan to bring more crude oil from the Canadian tar sands into the Bay Area by ship, raising the risk of spills of this heavy, dirty oil into San Francisco Bay.
“This is heavy oil. It sinks. If it’s spilled from a ship, it’s going to instantaneously cover the bottom of the Bay which will almost automatically kill everything that is on the Bay floor,” said Sejal Choksi-Chugh, Baykeeper Interim Executive Director. “We shouldn’t even be contemplating having those vessels come in to the Bay until we are ready to deal with a spill.”