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SAN FRANCISCO - The Coast Guard is defending its response to Wednesday's massive oil spill in the San Francisco Bay. The agency has come under criticism for a delay in telling local officials and the public of the seriousness of the spill. There was a lag time of several hours after the Guard learned that the spill was 58,000 gallons, not 140 gallons as initially reported. A Coast Guard official says on the surface, it looks like the agency did everything "by the book." Still, he says, the Guard will conduct a full investigation. Images: Charges Possible | Video Federal investigators have begun a criminal investigation into the spill, which happened last Wednesday when a Chinese container ship sideswiped the Bay Bridge, riping a gash in its fuel tanks. Authorities detained the crew Sunday for questioning. The National Transportation Safety Board has also started its own investigation.
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A preliminary Coast Guard investigation found that human error, not mechanical failure, caused the ship to sideswipe a support on the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. "One of the things we are looking at, as with any investigation with the weather conditions we saw -- specifically heavy fog -- would be what speed was the ship....
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