Emergency management Discussion Question
There have been a couple of huge oil spills that affected the United States. In 1989 the Exxon Valdez spill was significant and because of this spill the Oil Pollution
Act of 1990 was enacted. According to the United States Coast Guard, “The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 amended the Clean Water Act and addressed the wide range of
problems associated with preventing, responding to, and paying for oil pollution incidents in navigable waters of the United States” (Overview).
There are several elements to this Act implemented to increase safeguards for the environment. One of the most IMPORTANT is increasing penalties. In the Exxon Valdez
case, the Trustee Council advises that Exxon was fined $150 million in the Criminal Plea Agreement, however, “the court forgave the $125 million of that fine in
recognition of Exxon’s cooperation in cleaning up the spill and paying certain private claims” (para. 2). In BP’s oil spill known as “Deepwater Horizon” BP was ”
forced to pay $20.8 billion, the largest settlement ever reached with a single entity” (oilprice.com). However, this has not been enough to cover the cost of recovery
according to the report on the Act by the Coast Guard (pg. 3).
References
Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, (n.d.). Settlement. Retrieved from: http://www.evostc.state.ak.us/index.cfm?FA=facts.settlement
Kennedy, C., (October, 2015). Most of BP’s $20.8 billion Deepwater Horizon Fine is tax deductible. Oilprice.com, Retrieved from: http://oilprice.com/Energy/Energy-
General/Most-Of-BPs-208-Billion-Deepwater-Horizon-Fine-Is-Tax-Deductible.html
United States Coast Guard , (n.d.). Report on Implementation of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Retrieved from :
http://www.uscg.mil/npfc/docs/PDFs/Reports/osltf_report.pdf
