In response to Baykeeper’s lawsuit, U.S. Pipe and Foundry recently agreed to stop polluted storm water from leaving its Union City pipe manufacturing facility. Runoff containing heavy metals and other toxic substances has been flowing off the U.S. Pipe and Foundry site into Ward Creek, a tributary of Alameda Creek, which empties into San Francisco Bay. Baykeeper sued U.S.

This week the federal Environmental Protection Agency raised an abandoned and sunken tugboat from the floor of the Oakland Estuary, as part of a two-month operation to remove abandoned boats from the area. The funding for the removal of the tug comes in part from penalty fees paid by owners of the Cosco Busan, the container ship that spilled 53,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the Bay in 2007. Baykeeper advocated for using these penalty fees to clear abandoned boats from the Bay, in order to help clean up this widespread source of pollution.

In the latest legal victory for Baykeeper’s Bay-Safe Industry Campaign, the city of Sunnyvale recently agreed to install controls to protect San Francisco Bay from polluted runoff from its waste transfer facility, which handles 1,500 tons per day of trash and recyclables from Sunnyvale, Mountain View, and Palo Alto. Sunnyvale will also protect the Bay from polluted runoff from an adjacent concrete recycling plant. Toxic runoff from these facilities drains into nearby Bay wetlands and Guadalupe Slough.

Baykeeper is working to halt plans by the oil industry for a major expansion of oil refineries on San Francisco Bay in order to process millions of barrels of oil for export to other states and countries. A significant increase in oil storage and processing along the Bay’s shores could drastically raise the risk of oil spills into the Bay and its watershed. Moreover, the expanded refineries and storage facilities could be flooded by rising Bay levels due to global climate change, causing even more pollution in the Bay.

As a result of Baykeeper’s lawsuit, SOS Steel Company, Inc. last week agreed to clean up its pollution of San Francisco Bay. Baykeeper sued the Santa Clara steel fabricator after finding that rainy-season runoff from the site was contaminated with toxic metals and chemicals.

For the third year in a row, Charity Navigator, the nation’s leading evaluator of nonprofit organizations’ financial performance, has awarded San Francisco Baykeeper its top 4-star rating for our effective use of resources in pursuing our mission to protect and restore San Francisco Bay.

An appeal court has ruled that San Francisco Baykeeper has the right to bring a lawsuit over claims that sand mining harms the public trust—the public’s right to access natural resources—in our lawsuit to stop excessive sand mining in San Francisco Bay. Too much sand is already being mined, disrupting the Bay’s ecosystem and contributing to erosion of Ocean Beach.

Scientists at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have issued a report on the threats of climate change to 28 key estuaries around the nation. The agency’s research found that San Francisco Bay is one of six estuaries most sensitive to the effects of climate change.

Baykeeper’s Volunteer Pollution Investigators are helping us find out which industrial facilities are polluting San Francisco Bay. After completing their training last month, volunteers are out surveying the edges of industrial sites. They’re taking photos and looking for indications that pollution is being washed off the site and into the Bay when rain falls. 

Mike Taugher, a former reporter for the Contra Costa Times who was an expert on water issues, died unexpectedly on July 27 while vacationing with his family in Hawaii.

Mike covered the environment, and especially water issues, in a way that presented all sides and enabled readers to understand complexities. When Mike turned to Baykeeper as a source of news, we knew he would understand and present what was at stake for San Francisco Bay and the Delta.