Oil Spills and Responses Discussed at Special Energy Seminar
The Deepwater Horizon explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico earlier this year was the result of a system of “complacency, collusion and neglect” – the same factors that were responsible for the Exxon Valdez oil spill (EVOS) in Alaska’s Prince William Sound 21 years ago, according to Boston College Law Professor Zygmunt Plater.
Prof. Plater, who chaired the legal task force of the Exxon Valdez Commission after the famous 1989 oil spill, was the featured speaker at a special energy seminar on Oct. 26 titled “Tough Lessons from Oil,” co-sponsored by the Department of Geography and Environment, and the Clean Energy and Environmental Sustainability Initiative (CEESI), and the Sawyer Seminar Series in the Pardee Center for the Study of the Longer Range Future. BU Environmental Law Adjunct Professor Rick Reibstein introduced Prof. Plater. Prof. Cutler Cleveland of the Geography and Environment Department and an energy expert who has been closely monitoring and writing about the developments in the Deepwater Horizon spill, also participated.
Prof. Plater said the report of the Exxon Valdez Commission, which was completed in 1991, found there were systemic problems in oil industry operations and the government oversight mechanisms that made a major oil spill inevitable. He said while the report suggested changes to address many of the lessons learned
from EVOS – such as the need for mandatory emergency response planning and preparation and strict standards governing the use of chemical dispersants in clean up operations– many of the report’s recommendations were either never adopted or ignored. “It’s a terrible sense of déjà vu,” he said the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the response and clean up operations.
Prof. Plater is a lead organizer for a symposium at Boston College Law School on November 12 called “Learning from Disaster: Lessons for the Future from the Gulf of Mexico,” where leading experts in the science, law and politics regarding the oil industry and oil spills will gather to discuss ways to make sure the lessons from both spills can be put to use – and avoid repeating similar problems – in the future.
For more information on Pardee Center’s Sawyer Seminar Series, go here.