Crown State Memorial Beach Park in Alameda closed down after "quarter-sized tar balls and an oil sheen" were found along the shoreline, stretching about half-mile long. No one knows yet where the oil is coming from, but many have speculated that it stems from the Cosco Busan (which, as you may remember, dumped over 58,000 gallons of oil in the SF Bay last year.) According to the Oakland Tribune, neither the Coast Guard nor......

Photo by terraplanner/Flickr We're a tenth of a penny away from $5 a gallon for REGULAR gas, y'all. Very exciting. In related news, things are getting heated in SoCal. At an Orange County Costco, a La Palma doctor freaked out while waiting in line to buy gas in Cypress. Someone, it seems, tried to cut in line. So, the man who took an oath to keep his fellow man healthy, or whatever, "grabbed a......

Although the National Transportation Safety Board has yet to release its report on the causes of last year's crash, today the pilot of the Cosco Busan, John Joseph Cota of Petaluma, was charged in federal court. The feds, it seems, found him in violation of two federal laws when he accidentally steered the container ship into the Bay Bridge on November 9 2007, which then released 53,000 gallons of oil into the bay. According......

According to the Coast Guard, "a barge has hit the Richmond-San Rafael Bridge" around 6 p.m. this evening. Yikes! The barge, reportedly carrying 63,000 barrels of heavy black oil, hit the east piling of the west span. So far there are no reports of any injuries or leakage. Ah, a light day. Anyway, according to ABC 7, this isn't the first time that a barge has smacked the bridge in question. It seems that......

Like the bad ass she is, occasional San Francisco resident and current House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has written to the "Homeland Security Department's inspector general requesting an investigation of preparation for and response to last month's oil spill in San Francisco Bay," according to CBS 5. In a wordy missive to Inspector General Skinner, she fired off over a dozen issues she wants taken care of right-quick. A couple of points she needs to......

Gavin wants your fat. According to Renewable Energy Access, yesterday our dear Mayor implemented a new program that will collect fats, oil, and grease from the city restaurants free of charge.Why? So that they can be to turn into biofuel to power city-owned vehicles. The program is called SFGreasecycle. Ew. But: awesome. Said fat and oil, when poured down the drain, "solidifies into thick layers inside drainpipes and sewer pipes, constricting water flow the......

Audet & Partners, LLP filed a class action lawsuit on behalf of commercial fishers and crab-based (?) businesses in San Francisco on November 20. Today on their site they claim the following, "Breaking News: Cosco Busan Vessel Arrested." Which? Okay then. We have yet to see footage of the vessel getting cuffed by the fuzz with its shirt off, and we can't imagine it heard its Miranda rights being read, but seeing as how......

What started out yesterday morning as a PG-13, innocent little fender bender has now turned into our very own R-rated environmental disaster. Smashing. Here's a summary of today's oil spill-related chaos, followed by volunteering and clean-up information. -- Today Gavin Newsom sent down word from wherever he's recovering from his hangover -- we kid. sort of -- that SF will get litigious on the agency or persons responsible for the 58,000 gallons of oil......

Oh man, are you kidding? This is terrible. Not to get all tugging-the-heart strings today, but this spill is much worse than initially reported yesterday. This oil covered bird above was found at Fort Baker cove in Sausalito today. It seems that the Marin Headlands are getting crazy sloshed with oil on their shores. (The aerial shots of the spill on SFGate are jaw-dropping.) A Golden Gate National Recreation Area ranger claims that the......

But, and we hate to admit it, they sure do look pretty together. (The image above has been set as our desktop background!) But as attractive as oil and water looks on rain-soaked driveways and in Carmel-y art pieces, it's not worth it when it's in our Bay. It tends to cause inexcusable damage. (Where, like, fish and mermaids and stuff totally die, you know.) Take, for example, this morning's container ship that rammed......