The State - News from Feb. 7, 1986

U.S. Coast Guard officials said preliminary tests show that the barge Apex Houston caused an oil spill that coated more than 2,000 sea birds in Northern California with black goo. The Coast Guard’s Central Oil Identification Laboratory traced oil from the spill to the barge, which is owned by G.N.P. Barge & Tank of St. Louis. The Coast Guard announcement said company officials did not claim responsibility for the spill, saying they were waiting to confirm oil was lost from the ship and for reports from their own laboratory. The Coast Guard said the oil was spilled as the barge traveled from San Francisco to Los Angeles. If found responsible for the spill, the company could be fined up to $10,000 and ordered to pay cleanup costs the Coast Guard said have reached $15,000 for removal of oil at Muir and Rodeo beaches in Marin County and a sandy strip near Chrissie Field on San Francisco Bay.