Crew of ship that hit Bay Bridge isn't talking to NTSB

(CNN) -- The crew of the ship that ran into the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge and spilled thousands of gallons of oil into the water last week has retained lawyers and is not complying with requests for interviews from the National Transportation Safety Board, a board member said Wednesday.

"The crew members' attorneys have not granted us access to the crew members," NTSB member Debbie Hershman told reporters in Oakland, California.

But even if they don't get to interview all the crew, Hershman added, "We will conduct a thorough investigation.

"We have very good tools and resources with respect to the VDR [voyage data recorder] and other materials to be able to conduct a thorough investigation."

Hershman said that data is now being reviewed at NTSB labs in Washington and investigators are awaiting translations on some portions of audio recordings, because some of the crew spoke in Chinese.

Also on Wednesday, The Associated Press reported that Capt. William Uberti, the U.S. Coast Guard's bay region commander, will no longer oversee the response to the oil spill. At a hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, the Coast Guard commandant, Adm. Thad Allen, said Capt. Paul Gugg will take over that job, the AP said.

"Given the concerns in the port and the fact that there's a lot of activity going on there and concerns about what may or may not have happened, we thought it was best at this time to bring in a new incident commander for this particular response," Allen said, according to the AP.

The Coast Guard's response to the spill has come under criticism, particularly because of an initial report from the ship's owner that only 140 gallons of oil had been lost. After Coast Guard officials learned the spill was more than 50,000 gallons, city officials weren't notified for four hours. Watch Adm. Thad Allen's assessment of the spill and response »

The 900-foot MV Cosco Busan ran into the fender on a piling of the San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge November 8 in heavy fog, cutting a 12-foot-wide, 212-foot long gash in the ship's side. More than 50,000 gallons of oil is believed to have spilled into the waterway. See what coastline areas were contaminated »

Questions have been raised about the crew's familiarity with the ship, since this was its first voyage.

Hershman said the NTSB has interviewed the ship's pilot, who told investigators he twice questioned the captain about a difference in symbols on the electronic charts and paper charts.

"The paper chart, which is fairly standard, has standard symbology. The symbology that was on the electronic chart was not the exact same as the symbology that appears on the paper chart that the pilot was familiar with, so he queried the captain with respect to particular symbols," she said.

Meanwhile, alcohol tests given to the captain, pilot and other pertinent crew members on the day of the crash came back negative, according to Rear Adm. Craig Bone of the Coast Guard.

Results for drug tests given the same day have not yet come back, he told reporters.

On Tuesday, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger suspended all fishing for human consumption in the San Francisco Bay, where crab season was just beginning.

"Our priority must be getting the oil cleaned up as quickly as possible, rescuing all marine life and most importantly protecting the public health," Schwarzenegger said in a written statement.

Crews have worked for days to skim the oily sludge from the beaches and environmentally sensitive marshes around the bay, and to rescue wildlife affected by the muck. The spill has killed nearly 400 birds in San Francisco Bay.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who represents California, has suggested Congress look into the accident and the response to the spill.

Coast Guard officials have said damage to the ship's tanks and heavy fog at the time of the crash made it difficult to immediately determine the scope of the disaster. The latest estimates put the spill at between 53,000 and 58,000 gallons.

The California Department of Transportation said the collision did no structural damage to the bridge, and there was no interruption of traffic on the bridge, which 250,000-plus vehicles use daily. E-mail to a friend

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