San Francisco Bay oil spill

Patches of oil coat the rocks at Rodeo Beach in Marin County as crews continue to clear up the damage after a cargo ship leaked 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into San Francisco Bay last week.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

A worker at Rodeo Beach throws a bag of oil-tainted sand into the bed of a truck. The spill has blackened shorelines nearly all around the bay.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

A Coast Guard helicopter flies over Marin County. The agency’s response to the Bay Area oil spill has come under fire from politicians and others in the San Francisco region. Coast Guard officials say their actions could not have been more aggressive.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

A cleanup worker looks for globs of oil at Rodeo Beach in Marin County.  (Robert Durell / Los Angeles Times)

An oil slick spreads out along the San Francisco Bay. About 58,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the bay after the cargo ship Cosco Busan crashed into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. It’s the area’s worst oil spill in nearly two decades.  (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

An oil slick floats by Alcatraz Island in the San Francisco Bay.  (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

The container ship sideswiped this portion of a support on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge, damaging the wood and causing a gash nearly 100 feet long on the side of the ship.  (Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

The Clean Bay II, an oil skimmer, works on sucking up the oily liquid just west of the Golden Gate Bridge.  (Brant Ward / San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

Signs warn visitors away from Kirby Cove beach in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. About two dozen Bay Area beaches were closed after tides carried the oil under the Golden Gate Bridge and out to the Pacific Ocean.  (John Burgess / The Press Democrat via AP)

Streaks of oil can be seen flowing past the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge in this view from the Marin Headlands near Sausalito.  (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger walks to a news conference with Lisa Curtis, administrator of the Office of Spill Prevention and Response, after a briefing by officials on the cleanup efforts. Schwarzenegger declared a state of emergency, which will make additional state personnel, funding and equipment available.  (Paul Chinn / The San Francisco Chronicle via AP)

More than 700 workers joined cleanup crews on the water and along beaches to mop up the oil damage, a job that could take several weeks and possibly months.  (Eric Risberg / Associated Press)

A kayaker, right, stops to photograph the cargo ship’s nearly 100-foot-long gash. Two fuel tanks were ruptured when the vessel struck a support on the Bay Bridge and leaked about 58,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel.  (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

Rear Adm. Craig Bone, the U.S. Coast Guard’s top official in California, talks about the oil spill caused by the Cosco Busan, shown in the background. A preliminary Coast Guard investigation has determined that human error caused the crash but officials declined to lay specific blame pending further inquiry.  (Noah Berger / Associated Press)

A surf scoter spreads his oil-covered feathers on the beach in Heron’s Head Park in San Francisco. State wildlife officials said they have received hundreds of reports of oil-soaked birds found along Bay Area beaches.  (Lacy Atkins / The San Francisco Chronicle via AP)