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Unified Command press releases and information about current response efforts to oil spills in California. Website managed by the Office of Spill Prevention and Response. (www.wildlife.ca.gov/ospr)
October 2, 2026 A Unified Command (UC) consisting of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB), California Department of Fish and Wildlife-Office of Spill…
June 14, 2024 Operations to complete wet excavation (below the water table) for the southern half of the railroad site will resume in the coming weeks. Installation of an in-river…
June 11, 2024 A Unified Command including OSPR continues to respond to the Aurora, a sinking vessel in Potato Slough near Stockton. Crews began installing dewatering pumps on the vessel…
May 23, 2024 A Unified Command consisting of agencies including OSPR continues to respond to a sinking vessel in Little Potato Slough. Over the holiday weekend, crews will work to…
May 22, 2024 A Unified Command with representatives from the U.S. Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response and the City of Stockton…
March 11, 2024 SAN PEDRO, Calif. – Unified Command concluded its response Monday to an oil sheen observed offshore of Huntington Beach. Over the weekend, cleanup crews recovered approximately 85…
March 9, 2024 SAN PEDRO, Calif. – The Unified Command continues its response Saturday to an oil sheen located two and a half miles off Huntington Beach. An overflight on…
March 8, 2024 SAN PEDRO, Calif. – The Unified Command continues its response Friday to an oil sheen located two and a half miles off Huntington Beach. Approximately 85% of…
March 8, 2024 SAN PEDRO, Calif — A Unified Command with representatives from the US Coast Guard (USCG), California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response…
February 10, 2024 SAN FRANCISCO — The Coast Guard responded to a report of a grounded vessel Friday night at Sonoma Coast State Park. This position is two miles southwest…
January 5, 2024 Excavation operations have been completed for the 2023 work season and the site is being winterized in preparation for inclement weather. Operations to complete wet excavation for…
October 23, 2023 Excavation work continues along the Upper Sacramento River at the Dunsmuir Railyard, where cleanup and restoration is ongoing to address historic petroleum seepage. Planned excavation will continue through December before winterizing…
October 18, 2023 At approximately 12:00 pm today (October 18, 2023) a turbidity plume (a plume containing sediment temporarily suspended in the water column) was released outside of the in-river…
Active restoration and cleanup is occurring at the Dunsmuir Railyard located along the Sacramento River. Please read the flyer on important safety information for the public planning to engage in…
Santa Catalina Island, Calif. – California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR) is investigating a potential oil spill from a sinking 62-foot fishing vessel…
May 30, 2023 After pausing excavation activities over the winter months due to inclement weather,cleanup and restoration efforts are set to resume this month at the Dunsmuir Railyard,where historic petroleum…
OSPR field team responded to a release of red dye diesel fuel from a storage tank located at Commerce Road and Arena Blvd in the Natomas area of the City…
January 14, 2023 SANTA BARBARA ‑ A Unified Command of agencies continues to investigate and monitor petroleum sheens observed off Summerland Beach in Santa Barbara County. Lab results from multiple…
Dec. 8, 2022 Excavation work continues along the Upper Sacramento River at the Dunsmuir Railyard, where a Unified Command of state and federal agencies (including OSPR and Union Pacific Railroad),…
Oct. 14, 2022 UPDATE on the Dunsmuir Historical Oil response: Excavation work is set to begin next week along the Upper Sacramento River at the Dunsmuir Railyard, where a Unified…
Sept. 2, 2022 As of August 31, operations to remove the F/V American Challenger from the rocky shoreline north of Dillon Beach in Marin County have been suspended for the…
Aug. 22, 2022 UPDATE on American Challenger response: Contracted crews have successfully removed 53,070 pounds (~26.5 tons) of steel and other debris from the grounded fishing vessel via helicopter. All…
Aug. 1, 2022 American Challenger Update: A Unified Command continues response efforts to the 90-foot vessel that has been grounded within the rocky shoreline north of Dillon Beach in Marin…
7/16/22 UPDATE on American Challenger response: The joint agency Unified Command leading response efforts to the 90-foot fishing vessel that grounded on rocks in Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary in…
June 29, 2022 A Unified Command of federal and state agencies, and Union Pacific Railroad (UPRR) continues to oversee cleanup and restoration at the Dunsmuir railyard, where historic petroleum seepage…
April 29, 2022 Recent storms have severely degraded the integrity of the vessel, damaging safety equipment recently installed in preparation for the vessel salvage operations. A unrecoverable sheen approximately 75-feet…
March 29, 2022 A helicopter lifted out large bags of debris collected near the American Challenger this past week, as operational planning to remove the grounded 90-foot vessel continues. The…
March 11, 2022 The Unified Command overseeing response efforts to the American Challenger coordinated a safe boarding operation this week to assess the vessel’s current condition as part of a…
Unified Command A Unified Command consisting of US Coast Guard (USCG), California Department of Fish and Wildlife Office of Spill Prevention and Response (CDFW-OSPR), and County of Orange continues to…
SAN PEDRO, Calif – The Unified Command (UC) consists of the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s (CDFW) Office of Spill Prevention and Response (OSPR), and…
SAN PEDRO, Calif – A unified command has been established to respond to an oil sheen reported a half-mile off Bolsa Chica State Beach. The Unified Command consists of…
Oct. 1, 2021 A unified command continues to oversee operations for removing contaminated soil from historical fuel tanks at the Dunsmuir Railyard. Fuel from the tanks had been seeping into…
United States Environmental Protection AgencyCalifornia Department of Fish and Wildlife – Office of Spill Prevention and ResponseCalifornia Regional Water Quality Control Board Sept. 8, 2021 DUNSMUIR, Calif. – A unified…
June 26, 2021 The Unified Command and contracting partners have been assessing American Challenger to determine its stability for removal. The decision was made to remove the vessel from its…
May 21, 2021 Operations continued this week to assess and remove pollutants from the American Challenger, which grounded on the rocks north of Dillon Beach on March 5.Crews successfully patched three holes in…
May 14, 2021 Contractors continued operations to assess and remove pollutants from American Challenger, the 90-foot vessel that grounded on rocks in Marin County on March 5. This week, divers evaluated application of…
Crews have completed assessment efforts for the four remaining petroleum tanks aboard American Challenger. Approximately 650 gallons of oil/water mix was recovered from one of the tanks, along with approximately 7…
April 23, 2021 The Unified Command has approved a plan to continue pollution assessments of American Challenger, based on preliminary findings from an accelerometer installed on the vessel April 14. …
April 14, 2021 Marine engineering contractors were dropped in by helicopter today to install an accelerometer onto American Challenger. The operation was part of a plan to determine safe access…
April 9, 2021 A coalition of local, state and federal agencies continues to monitor the grounded American Challenger. The Unified Command has engaged Ballard Marine Construction, a marine salvage company,…
April 2, 2021 A coalition of local, state and federal agencies continues to monitor the American Challenger, the 90-foot fishing vessel grounded on rocks north of Dillon Beach in Marin…
Marin County Fire crews deployed containment boom in Tomales Bay today as a readiness exercise led by the U.S. Coast Guard and CDFW-OSPR. Although no fuel sheen has been observed…
A coalition of government agencies continues to explore options to secure funding to address the ongoing pollution threat from the American Challenger. The coalition has met several times over the…
MARIN COUNTY, Calif. – The unified command overseeing the response to the American Challenger declared an end to emergency oil pollution response operations. Oversight for the next response phase will shift to a coalition of…
The Unified Command held a virtual open house for the public on Saturday, March 13. A recording of the open house can be viewed with the following link and passcode:…
MARIN COUNTY, Calif – The Unified Command has suspended their oil pollution assessment of the American Challenger to preserve the health and safety of responders. A shift in the positioning of the vessel has created…
March 12, 2021 MARIN COUNTY, Calif. – The unified command continued their response Friday to the grounded vessel American Challenger. Coast Guard Pacific Strike Team members conducted a drone overflight to assess the American Challenger. There were no new…
March 11, 2021 MARIN COUNTY, Calif. – The Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, and…
March 10, 2021 MARIN COUNTY, Calif. – The Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, and…
March 9, 2021 MARIN COUNTY, Calif. – The Coast Guard, California Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Office of Spill Prevention and Response, Marin County Sheriff’s Office of Emergency Services, and…
Nov. 19, 2025 A comprehensive cleanup and shoreline restoration project to remove oil and contaminated soil from the shoreline of the Dunsmuir Railyard site is now complete. The project will…
Aug. 13, 2025 PUBLIC ADVISORY: Upper Sacramento River to be Temporarily Narrowed for Railyard Project An active cleanup and shoreline restoration project continues at the Dunsmuir Railyard, adjacent to the…
July 9, 2025 The Dunsmuir Railyard Shoreline Response Action and Restoration Project Unified Command is hosting a Community Open House on Wednesday, July 16, from 6 pm to 7:30 pm…
April 22, 2025 Operations for the 2024 work season have concluded, as well as habitat restoration of the site which continued into April 2025. Final removal of in-river equipment was…
Nov. 8, 2024 Dunsmuir Railyard operations for the week beginning November 4 included import and grading of barrier sand, foundation layer, and vegetative layer; placement of riverbed material; live cutting…
Nov. 1, 2024 Dunsmuir Railyard operations for the week beginning October 28 included wet excavation; grading of barrier sand, foundation layer, and vegetative layer; placement of riverbed material; realignment of…
October 25, 2024 Dunsmuir Railyard operations for the week beginning October 21 included wet excavation, concrete installation to pit areas inside the roundhouse wall, and realignment of the In-River Isolation…
October 18, 2024 UPDATE: Dunsmuir Railyard operations for the week beginning October 14 included concrete installation to pit areas inside the roundhouse wall. The In-River Isolation Barrier (IRIB) is being…
October 11, 2024 UPDATE: Dunsmuir Railyard operations for the week beginning October 7 included concrete installation to pit areas inside the roundhouse wall. Crews have continually monitored the area during…
