UPDATES: OCEAN BEACH OIL SPILL ECO-CLEANUP WITH HAIRMATS (More photos)



Volunteers soaking up the oil on Ocean Beach San Francisco, CA, Friday November 9, 2007

UPDATES 11/9/07 - 11/19/07: HAIRMAT ECOOIL SPILL CLEANUP OCEAN BEACH, SAN FRANCISCO
(Also see Updates 11/20/07 - Present: Oily-Hairmat-Eating Mushroom Treatability Study )

Update Monday 11/19/07 - Beaches looking cleaner!
Many beaches are being re-opened. But if you see oil call 415 398 9617 for the Cosco Busan Hotline

We have 3,000 hairmats, courtessy of SF Surfrider donation. Who wants them to scrub oily rocks and pick up blobs? Contact us at lisa@matteroftrust.org 415 235 2403 cell

The Presidio Trust has offered us a location where we could do the oily-hairmat-eating mushroom treatability studies, if we can get the permits.


Update Sunday 11/18/07 - Press helping us!
San Jose Mercury News, SF Chronicle 11/30/07, SF Chronicle 11/14/07, Chicago Tribune, Forbes , KRON TV, LA Times, KCBS.com, Scientific American, Canada's Globe and Mail, SF Bay Guardian, Seattle Pi,... Online YouTubes, National Wildlife Federation, TreeHugger.com, Inhabitat, Truthout , Yahoo Finance, Natural Living, Even cartoons! RadioTerra Verde on KPFA FM
For press contact Lisa Gautier at lisa@matteroftrust.org 415 235 2403 cell


Update Saturday 11/17/07
Inventor of the hairmats and barber, Phil McCrory comes to San Francisco from Alabama to get certified and see the hairmat cleanup.

SF Surfrider Donates $5,000 to buy 10,000 more hairmats for certified volunteers who want to clean up the oiled rocks and the ocean sheen.


Update Friday 11/16/07
Locations are being scouted for the Oily-Hairmat-Eating Mushroom Composting Process and Exhibit.

Department of Fish and Game is helping us with the license / exemption process for the hair mats.

Our oily-hairmats have been collected along with the other toxic waste, as they should be. However, we hope to get them back for the Oily-Hairmat-Eating Mushroom Compost project we're setting up. Mike Plant, Public Utilities Commission, is helping us with this along with so many others at the Lincoln / Ocean Beach Official cleanup site.


Update Thursday 11/15/07
"San Francisco Bay Area is Going to Revolutionize Oil Spill Cleanup"
Matter of Trust, partnering with St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County, Oregon and now talking with Youth Employment Partnership (YEP) and Ella Baker Center's Green Color Jobs Project and will coordinate to have the donated hair from thousands of US salons be woven and needlepunched on a continual basis at a warehouse in San Leandro, CA. This will provide a path out of poverty for the formerly incarcerated and training for at risk youth. Weavers have volunteered to train people, St. Vincent de Paul of Lane County and Matter of Trust are fundraising for $150,000 to purchase a used needlepunch machine and pay for training on use of that as well. The mats will be donated to emergency oil spills and when in surplus will be sold wholesale to Smartgrow.net who owns the patents. Phil McCrory (inventor of the hair mat) and Smartgrow.net have always donated Matter of Trust the license to use their patented technology to make the hairmat and they will now contributing a percentage of any profits to this green jobs project! Now our goal is to organize convenient collection of hair from salons, so that they do not have to pay to mail the hair in. Hair is sold as a commodity in China, and we believe it should be here, too. We are looking at steps to benefit the salons as well for their generosity!


Update Wednesday 11/14/07 - Today our goal is to nudge Unified Command to allow the contractors to buy the industrial sized hair mats from SmartGrow.net and to let The O'Brian Group use Fungi.com's "oily hairmat eating oyster mushrooms" to turn the toxic waste into safe compost in only 4-6 months.

Exemption Clause to fast track Hair Mats License! Volunteer gogetter Lori Scwillling found this exemption clause and form. We hope it works for the mats, so contractors can buy them from the industrial manufacturers in big sizes and quantities.

DEPARTMENT OF FISH AND GAME OIL SPILL CLEAN AGENT LICENSE
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/ospr/law/regs/osca898.pdf
(b) Exemptions to the license requirement:
(1) a manufacturer may request an exemption from the licensing requirements for the
following agents and substances;
(A) substances such as sorbents and other cleanup devices that do not employ the use
of active chemical cleanup agents; or
(B) substances that do not cause aquatic toxicity when used for purposes of oil spill
response.
AND
885.2 Exemption, License and Renewal Applications and Fees.
(a) Exemption Petition, (form #1958, as found in the Guidance Document):
(1) a manufacturer must petition for an exemption to the licensing process for any product
that might be used in response to an oil spill that could be considered exempt under
section 885.1.
(A) the following materials will automatically be considered exempt, though the
manufacturer must still submit an exemption request form in order to establish the
product as available for use in California;
1. cellulose fibers, other than peat moss or products derived from peat moss,
2. vermiculite or zeolite,
3. polypropolene,
4. polyethylene,
5. polyurethane,
6. polyester.

The hair mats do not have active chemical compounds nor do they cause aquatic toxicity. We are already exempt because we are cellulose based per 885.2.Best,.


Update Wednesday 11/14/07
OFFICIAL CERTIFICATION CLASSES CONTINUE - They expected 350 tonight - but 800 showed up in San Francisco. Huge numbers are turning out everywhere and more and more counties are asking for classes! (see photos)

1000 More mats have been donated! Who needs them?
Contact lisa@matteroftrust.org with information for pick ups. 18,000 are available for same day delivery when contractors have permission.

Containment oily hair mats kept apart for the mushroom remediation. All of the agencies are working together to see where we can have one dumpster specifically for the oily hair mats and collected bunker fuel. As well as a "transfer station" where this 12 week composting remediation can take place. Please contact us if you can assist with this. lisa@matteroftrust.org 415 235 2403 Cell

Ocean Beach is officially closed now to the public. Only "certified" card holding volunteers in safety gear can go out and clean up. SF Public Utilities Commission and Environmental Protection Agency are in control and things are looking great. They're using donated hairmats!


Update Tuesday 11/13/07
Official Training Sessions for Certification for Volunteers. Please go to ZunaSurf.com for all updates, classes, locations etc.

Update Monday 11/12/07
As our supplies to donate run thin, we are talking to more and more environmental geroups from all over the Bay Area and trying to best coordinate grassroots efforts to make booms using all the loose hair we have in stock.

We are also focusing on connecting the industrial hairmat suppliers we know with the contractors on site, who are helpful, but their hands are tied until Incident Command has a chance to study the hairmats first hand. We realize that they are extremely busy and that they are approached with many cleanup oil spill products all the time. The reason that we are being so persistant is that the sooner the hairmats are used in the water, the less oil will get to the beaches. Also, most of the green products that are licensed and in the catalogs never get used at all because supply managers only hit REFILL of old supplies and don't look at the catalog. We are showing the press, public and ground crews how hairmats are superior, recycled material, reusable and compostable. We're an ecological nonprofit, if we didn't think this was vital to the environment now and in the future, we wouldn't dream of puting one more task on Incident Command's plate during all this. We hope they understand.


Update Sunday 11/11/07
OUR GOAL IS A HAND-OFF TO EPA - AND THE UNTAPPED 160 "TRAINED LOCAL CLEAN-UP PERSONNEL" REFERRED TO BY SF SUPERVISORS.

(Sigh - no hand-off) But over 500 concerned citizens turn out and use donated hair mats to collect oil. SmartGrow.net who make industrial sized hair mats for fertilzer for rose growers tell us that they have stock available and if the contractors want to order them, they can arrive in 4 days.

Paul Stamats of Fungi.com donates to Matter of Trust $10,000 worth of oily hairmat eating oyster mushrooms as well as providing the treatement and training. If the committee lets the contractors do this, the toxic waste will be safe compost in 4-6 months!

It was a beautiful but windy Sunday and there were concerned citizens as far as the eyes could see in both directions up and down the beach. It's very much encouraged by Matter of Trust and SF Surfrider.org and Zunasurf.com that all concerned citizens coming to the beach wear old shoes or boots, and use the provided and donated hair mats, protective tyvex suits, gloves, garbage bags. (which should be brought back to tarp areas not public garbage cans)... and please don't bring children or dogs that may touch the toxic oil. And only help if it is safe and legal.


Update Saturday 11/10/07
Volunteers and donations of supplies pouring in: Protective Gear, Coffee, Food...
Sunny Friday saw over 80 volunteers, but AMAZINGLY on this rainy Saturday over 250 people came out to help! (See photos)

More and more concerned citizens, environmentalists, and even off-work government employees were here to help today. In the downpour, cleanup was more grueling, but drinking warm coffee donated by Peet's Coffee and Starbucks helped! Check out our Thank you page!

With the understanding that there is some press regarding the safety of volunteers, we have solicited and easily received donations of protective gear and materials for the people coming out to the beaches in droves trying to help.

Surfers and other concerned citizens are meeting at 2PM at Taraval entrace to Ocean Beach San Francisco, CA - Sunday November 11, 2007.

This afternoon a busload of 15 official cleanup contractors came out to the other end of Ocean Beach, they saw us using the hairmats and asked for some. They loved them, much more efficient and lighter than shoveling the oily sand into heavy buckets. This looks like more official crews will be out here Sunday! That's great! Professional crews should probably be hired to close and clean this beach as well as those in Marin.

It was announced on the nightly news 11/9/07 that now the Department of Fish and Game’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) classes about oil spills will be provided to interested Bay Area volunteers:

Each class will cover the following topics:
What is (OSPR) and why was it formed How cleanup is conducted How wildlife recovery and rehabilitation addressed How the public can get training to become more involved What areas and activities the public should avoid during the cleanup How the public can report wildlife impacts. This is not a training for oil spill clean-up. This morning's meeting was not well received by the general public who came expecting training to help on the beaches. Michelle Rogow of the Environmental Protection Agency talks with Byron Cleary, Kathleen Egan and Darin Rosas who head the Kill The Spill volunteers. Several 4 hour training sessions are put in place to "certify" volunteers and let them officially help clean up Bay Area beaches.

It's very much encouraged by Matter of Trust and SF Surfrider.org and Zunasurf.com that all concerned citizens coming to the beach wear old shoes or boots, and use the provided and donated hair mats, protective tyvex suits, gloves, garbage bags. (which should be brought back to tarp areas not public garbage cans)... and please don't bring children or dogs that may touch the toxic oil. And only help if it is safe and legal.


Update Friday 11/09/07 -
Check out the YouTubes called "Ocean Beach Oil Spill Clean-Up 11/9/07"

Links: ZunaSurf.com and Baykeeper.org

The oil spill began on November 7, 2007 at 8:30 AM when a ship hit the Bay Bridge spilling 58,000 gallons of bunker fuel into the San Francisco Bay.

Ocean Beach isn't closed to the public, but oily blobs are washing up. Dogs are getting it on their paws and there are some families out there - we even saw kids using the oil as decoration on a sandcastle.

A grassroots beach clean-up started November 9th at 11 AM after over 48 hours had passed and to show a beach remediation effort. We, at Matter Of Trust, originally offered to donate our oil spill cleanup hairmats to officials at Incident Command. But they needed more time for situation analysis. Meanwhile, surfers at Ocean Beach in San Francisco Ocean Beach had started to organize a grassroots cleanup group of volunteers. Cynthia Knowles from the SF Department of the Environment met Byron Cleary first at Baker's Beach and gave Lisa Gautier, Executive Director of Matter of Trust. Matter of Trust had just gotten SF Dept of Environment 1000 hairmats for their used motor oil collection program. So between both organizations there were a lot of mats to offer the surfers as well. We called Cole Hardware who discounted Tyvek protection suits, gloves and tarps. The surfers picked the name Kill The Spill, took the hairmats and got to work soaking up oily blobs (see photos). The press got wind of the People Power movement and came out to see.

It's very much encouraged by Matter of Trust and SF Surfrider.org and Zunasurf.com that all concerned citizens coming to the beach wear old shoes or boots, and use the provided and donated hair mats, protective tyvex suits, gloves, garbage bags. (which should be brought back to tarp areas not public garbage cans)... and please don't bring children or dogs that may touch the toxic oil. And only help if it is safe and legal.