Perata Blasts Schwarzenegger Administration for Failure of Response on San Francisco Oil Spill

[courtesy of California Progress Report]

By Frank D. Russo

Backed by a phalanx of representatives of organizations who have worked for decades to prod state and local governments to clean up the San Francisco-Oakland Bay and those who fish and take crab in the bay, California State Senate President pro Tem Don Perata criticized Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger today for under funding and failing to staff regional water control boards and California’s oil spill prevention program.

Perata stated that the state has the money but just has not spent it--and that this has led the agency responsible for conducting unannounced drills to only conduct 3% of those that it is supposed to according its own plans under state law.

He also said that many of these boards do not have a quorum and therefore cannot operate. He noted 34 vacancies in the office, and said: "If you go on their website, it says, 'December meeting pending a quorum.' Now that's a hell of a thing to tell people, that if we can get people together… There are nine spots. There are five vacancies. There's no excuse for that."

He then noted: "Absent having the board in place, it's difficult for the agency to operate, and if they're severely understaffed, they can't operate anyway."

The Senate leader was clearly irked that less than a month ago the Governor vetoed a bill of his, SB 2001 that would have strengthened the state's nine regional water boards and made these front line enforcers of water quality laws more effective and accountable to the people. He vowed to reintroduce this bill in the special session on water, perhaps as early as this week, and said it could be back on the Governor's desk in a matter of a couple of weeks.

“The Governor is not doing his job,” Perata said. “He has neglected to fill these water boards, vetoed legislation that would make them more effective and rejected the advice of his own Department of Finance to increase funding and staffing for the state’s oil spill prevention program.”

“The tragedy we're seeing in the San Francisco Bay right now is the price we pay when the Governor lets critical jobs stand empty – and lets polluters off the hook,” Perata said. "An audit done in 2005 by the state Department of Finance determined that the state’s oil spill program was drastically under funded. The Governor did not follow the department’s recommendation to significantly boost staffing and funding for the program."

He and others appeared in front of the Bay with the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge that was crashed into by the Cosco Busan in the background. All agreed that the failure to take quick and effective response was not just an accident. They said it was predictable given the audit report's findings.