Oil on Troubled Waters

Still upset by the 1969 Santa Barbara Channel blowout, which discharged 336,000 gallons of crude oil, Californians faced an even worse spill last week. This time two Standard Oil of California tankers collided in dense fog under Golden Gate Bridge and drifted helplessly into San Francisco Bay. With a 40-ft. gash in her hull, the Oregon Standard gushed 1,000,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil that soon coated beaches and wildlife sanctuaries for 50 miles of the coast. Some people were so incensed at Standard Oil that they hurled plastic bags full of oil at the company's downtown San Francisco office and dumped dead fish into the building's ornamental pool.

Meantime, however, thousands of more constructive citizens--hardhats, longhairs. soldiers, schoolchildren--joined in round-the-clock efforts to rescue birds and mop up beaches. Standard Oil rushed in big supplies of cleaning equipment. The Coast Guard launched an investigation. For one thing, most other shipping had been suspended during the fog, and the Standard tankers had no pilots. In addition state legislators introduced bills aimed at strengthening navigational and piloting safeguards in California's inland waters.

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