University of California, Davis wildlife experts are leading the rescue of oiled birds in San Francisco Bay after a container ship spilled nearly 60,000 gallons of heavy bunker fuel oil into the bay Nov. 7. Other UC experts are also available to discuss impacts of the spill, from environmental to economical.

UC Davis

UC Davis administers the Oiled Wildlife Care Network, which has received more than 1,000 live birds. The network is a statewide collective of wildlife care providers and regional facilities interested in working with oil-affected wildlife. Several sources are available, including Director Michael Ziccardi. For more information, visit: http://187owcn.simplweb.com/contact-us.

Media contact: Sylvia Wright, UC Davis News Service, swright@ucdavis.edu, (530) 752-7704, cell: (530) 219-8849

UC Berkeley

Robert Bea, professor of civil engineering, is a former oil tanker captain. He has more than 48 years of experience in engineering and management of design, construction, maintenance, operation and decommissioning marine systems including offshore platforms, pipelines and floating facilities.

Faculty expert bio: http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~bea/about.html

Media contact: bea@ce.berkeley.edu, (510) 642-0967, (925) 631-1587

UCLA

Matthew Kahn, a professor at the UCLA Institute of the Environment, writes frequently about the costs and benefits of environmental regulation. He recently published a peer-reviewed study that found members of Congress were less likely to take pro-green positions on legislation in the wake of environmental disasters than it other times during the same calendar year because such legislation tends to overreach.

Faculty expert bio: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/catalog-record.aspx?rid=13836

Richard F. Ambrose, professor and director of the Environmental Science and Engineering Program at the UCLA School of Public Health, is an expert on the ecological impacts of contaminants in coastal and marine environments and the restoration of these habitats. His research, some of it funded by the California Department of Fish and Game Office of Spill Prevention and Response focuses on protecting the ecology of coastal areas and includes coastal monitoring stations in Southern California to detect the effects of oil spills, global climate change and other factors.

Faculty expert bio: http://www.newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/catalog-record.aspx?rid=13856

Media contact: Phil Hampton, phampton@support.ucla.edu, (310) 206-1460

UC San Diego

Richard Carson, a professor of economics, is one of the nation's leading authorities on spills. He served as principal investigator on the economic damage assessments for the Exxon Valdez oil spill for the state of Alaska, on the Southern Pacific Railroad Sacramento River spill for the state of California, and on large scale DDT and PCB contamination off the coast of Los Angeles for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Carson is a frequent commentator on natural disasters.

Faculty expert bio: http://www.econ.ucsd.edu/~rcarson/rtcbio.pdf

Media contact: Richard Carson, rcarson@ucsd.edu, (858) 534-1055 or Barry Jagoda, bjagoda@ucsd.edu, (858) 534-8567.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Terry Hazen and William Stringfellow of the Berkeley Lab’s Earth Sciences Division have conducted research on oil spill bioremediation (harnessing biological processes to clean up toxic compounds).

Faculty expert bio: http://esd.lbl.gov/ESD_staff/hazen/;
http://www-esd.lbl.gov/ESD_staff/stringfellow/

Media contact: Terry Hazen, TCHazen@lbl.gov, (510) 486-6223,
William Stringfellow, WStringfellow@lbl.gov, (510) 486-7903

Widely recognized as the best public research university system in the world, the University of California includes more than 214,000 students, 170,000 faculty and staff, and 1.5 million alumni. UC offers programs in more than 150 disciplines — many of which are ranked among the top 10 nationally. UC's five medical centers support the clinical teaching programs of the University's medical and health sciences schools and handle more than 3 million patient visits each year. The UC system is also involved in managing three U.S. Department of Energy national laboratories at Berkeley, Livermore and Los Alamos.