WASHINGTON, Nov. 20 (UPI) -- A U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee wants a Department of Homeland Security investigation into the emergency response to a San Francisco Bay oil spill.
The House Subcommittee on Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation heard three hours of testimony Monday into the response when the Cosco Busan hit a bridge footing on Nov. 7 and spilled 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel oil into the bay, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.
The congressional panel asked why the ship hit the bridge in heavy fog, whether there had been adequate communications and equipment on board and an explanation for delays in reporting the spill and its severity.
Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board said their investigation could take a year, which didn't sit well with committee member and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., the newspaper said.
"I wasn't satisfied with the answers or the path that we were on," Pelosi said.
A further frustration for the subcommittee was that no representatives of the ship or crew attended the hearing, the newspaper said.
