Federal Officials have started training oil spill cleanup volunteers in hastily scheduled workshops that are designed to get hundreds of concerned citizens working on the clean up of polluted beaches as quickly as possible. Having been harshly criticized by local residents and politicians for turning away hundreds of would be volunteers over the past weekend, the Feds relented today, and started teaching anyone who showed up how they could clean oil from the damaged beaches of the Bay Area.

Workshops were held at Ocean Beach in San Francisco and the Berkeley Marina this morning and around lunchtime. Coast Guard and Fish and Game say they may hold a few more such training sessions over the next several days in an effort to get the beaches cleaned up as quickly as possible. Unlike workshops offered over the weekend, which basically informed potential volunteers that they should go home and let authorities clean up the mess, these workshops were designed to get volunteers in the field right away.

Professional environmental clean up contractors hired by the federal government collect and dispose of contaminated sand at Rodeo Beach, one of the beaches worst hit by the disaster.

The extra help can't come too soon for Bay Area beaches and wildlife, now ravaged by an oil spill that, critics charge, has not been addressed competently or appropriately. The City of San Francisco has 150 firefighters and health workers who are trained in oil spill recovery standing at the ready to help clean up efforts. So far, the Federal bureaucracy overseeing clean up and containment efforts has yet to let these city workers participate in the clean up effort.

"We have been frustrated, we feel that this has been a stonewalling situation," said Bevan Dufty, SF Supervisor, addressing the Federal government's refusal to invite or allow San Francisco city workers to help in the effort.

Oil booms on a San Francisco beach attempt to contain the massive spill. The Golden Gate Bridge stands in the background.

The Coast Guard, the top authority in the clean up effort, has identified the spill as a health hazard. Speculation abounds as to the entire reason why the Federal authorities have been so reluctant to allow Bay Area residents onto beaches to help clean up the oil and tarballs that litter the sand and are poisoning wildlife. Signs at the beaches state that the water is contaminated. Of course, Federal officials don't want animals, such as pet dogs on walks, to be contaminated with the toxic sludge washing up from the spill. But the strict ban on any residents walking on, photographing, and/or attempting to clean the beaches has baffled and angered many local would be volunteers.

Like many other areas of the SF Bay, there were no oil clean up crews on this polluted shoreline area on Saturday afternoon.

Read about how volunteers were turned away over the weekend.

It may be that Federal and Local Officials are concerned about liability issues surrounding the collection of toxic materials like those produced by the spill. Personal lawsuits for damages incurred during the clean up effort are not unthinkable in our overly litigious society.

Territorial battles may also be to blame, as officials in charge of the various beaches and nature areas lobby for influence, and position themselves for dominance, over control of the clean up effort, and the shoreline. Many of the worst hit beaches are in areas controlled by the federal government, such as the Golden Gate National Recreation Area. City officials are reluctant to challenge Federal orders to stay away from the clean up, as any challenges may be grounds for reducing compensation from federal disaster relief funds in the future.

Evidently, and most likely, local and federal emergency response agencies were just not prepared for the immense outpouring of potential volunteer energy released by Bay Area residents, and these same officials have responded from a defensive position which has done little to mitigate the damage caused by the catastrophic oil spill. It is an unfortunate situation, especially because environmentalists cautions that it is extremely important to capture as much spilled oil and injured wildlife as soon as possible in a disaster such as this. The time window for the best clean up results is already closing, as oil from the spill dissolves into the water, sinks to the bottom of the bay, and otherwise escapes disposal by being washed off the beach by tides and ocean waves, before it can be collected and disposed of by clean up workers.

A seagull, his head and neck stained by oil, stands with Alcatraz Island in the background, as another container ship glides into the SF Bay.

Critics have charged that the Coast Guard's response to initial reports of the spill was extremely slow, incompetent, and inefficient, dooming the clean up and containment efforts to poor results from the start. That may be, but getting hands, shovels, and nets on the ground in the disaster area as quickly as possible should be the goal for now, and for the future. It looks like that future may finally be beginning, as the first newly trained volunteers are now allowed to hit the beaches, and get down to work.

Today, approximately 200 local residents were trained, they are now 'qualified' to work on the spill. They are expected to protect themselves with the appropriate equipment, like booties and white toxic materials handling suits, many of which were provided at the workshops. There are, however, hundreds more residents awaiting future workshops and willing to work immediately.