ALISON STEWART, host:
It's the worst oil spill in nearly 20 years in the San Francisco Bay. And now, it's the subject of a criminal probe.
LUKE BURBANK, host:
Federal investigators are questioning crew members of a container ship that struck the Bay Bridge last week. The collision ripped a gash in the ship's gas tank causing nearly 60,000 gallons of oil to leak into the bay.
STEWART: The Coast Guard's commander for the Bay region says the identified problems involving management and communication between the officers on the bridge of the Cosco Busan at the time of the crash but would not elaborate. Crew members will be allowed to leave after interviews are complete.
BURBANK: The ship struck the bridge early Wednesday. The bridge wasn't damaged, but this toxic sludge has now fouled miles of coastline, forced the closure of nearly two dozens beaches, and pierced and killed dozens of seabirds.
STEWART: Here's Admiral Thad Allen, commandant of the U.S. Coast Guard at a news conference yesterday.
Admiral THAD ALLEN (Commandant, U.S. Coast Guard): This has a tremendous impact on the environment. We understand that oil spills are intensely local. When you have oil on the water, everybody is impacted. Nothing good happens when oil is on the water.
BURBANK: California Senator Dianne Feinstein met with Coast Guard officials yesterday. At a press conference afterwards, she said she worked to find ways to prevent spills like this in the future and she explained why the clean up will be so difficult.
Senator DIANNE FEINSTEIN (Democrat, California): This is hazardous material. It can overcome a person. It contains benzene. It's carcinogenic. Therefore, you can't just have anybody running around the beach, picking the stuff up.
STEWART: Senator Feinstein said she won't comment on whether the spill was due to human error until the investigation is complete. A spokesman for the Hong Kong-based company that owns Cosco Busan also declined comment.
BURBANK: Now, investigators are going to go through the voyage data recorder. This is a device kind of similar to the flight data recorders you have on an airplane. They're going to - hope that through that they can learn more about the cause of the spill.
STEWART: And that's the BPP big story. Now, here's Rachel Martin with more of the news. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.