Regulation and the Environment

摘要

Can we really trust an oil company again when it assures us that if a major offshore spill occurs, the company has the means to deal with it? Or that any spill would have minimal environmental impact? It doesn't matter that there had been no major spills offshore in the US Gulf of Mexico for 30 years (although there have been hundreds of minor spills that never made the news). There were also thousands of safe tanker transits through Alaska's Prince William Sound before the Exxon Valdez was driven aground; and thousands of safe transits through the Sound since the grounding of the Exxon Valdez. But the Exxon Valdez accident happened, causing what was until now the biggest oil spill in US waters.