The San Jose Mercury News has a solid piece on the surprising amount of oil-spill laws passed by the state legislature in the wake of the Cosco Busan crash that killed thousands of birds and poisoned the bay waters with fuel oil. Although the governor may well veto the bills, the new regs are impressive: significantly raising the fees on imported oil to build a spill remediation fund; requiring cleanup crews to respond within two hours of a crash; setting up a $1 million grant to research new technology to contain oil slicks; and raising the fines for such spills. It’s a big list, and it’s all due to the heightened sense of urgency brought on by the Busan crash.
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