Sacramento, CA - Assemblymember Jared Huffman (D-San Rafael) continued to turn up the heat in an investigative hearing today called by the California State Senate's Natural Resources Committee to evaluate what changes can be made to the state oil spill disaster response plan to prevent future disasters like the "Cosco Busan".

The Department of Fish and Games' Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) received the toughest questions from Assemblymember Huffman and Senator Dean Florez. Huffman questioned OSPR's lack of response to Marin's precious Bolinas Lagoon. On a number of occasions, the Deputy Administrator of OSPR, Lisa Curtis, ducked questions and claimed to have no information regarding their response to this site. Huffman asked the Administrator repeatedly "What happened at Bolinas Lagoon - where OSPR's own planning documents identify it as an "A priority" site and make several recommendations about how to prevent damage from an oil spill?" Huffman also pointed out that OSPR's own recommendations were not implemented, and that untrained fisherman and volunteers had to scramble, days after the spill, to deploy make-shift booms that were inadequate, while OSPR was missing in action."

The OSPR Administrator later said that currents at the mouth of Bolinas Lagoon were too strong to allow booms that would keep oil out. Huffman responded, "It's hard for me to accept that there is no boom technology that could be used to prevent oil from entering the lagoon in strong currents." He then asked her about "fast water booms," and the Administrator responded that this is the type of thing that OSPR will be looking into.

"That's not good enough," Huffman said. "OSPR is required by law to utilize the best available technology, not to just throw up its hands. Strong currents are not unusual for Bolinas Lagoon, and there are fast water techniques that could have been utilized had OSPR properly done its job. OSPR is not the only party that made mistakes in the aftermath of this spill, but OSPR did make some major mistakes and needs to own up to them. Instead of candid answers and accountability, OSPR has offered every lame excuse except ‘my dog ate my homework," Huffman concluded.