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38 B.C. Envtl. Aff. L. Rev. 391 (2011)
The Exxon Valdez Resurfaces in the Gulf of Mexico and the Hazards of Megasystem Centripetal Di-Polarity

handle is hein.journals/bcenv38 and id is 399 raw text is: THE EXXON VALDEZ RESURFACES IN THE GULF OF MEXICO ... AND THE HAZARDS OF MEGASYSTEM CENTRIPETAL DI-POLARITY ZYGMUNTJ.B. PLATER* Abstract: The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon blowout spill in the Gulf of Mexico shocked the nation with the amount of oil and harm it unleashed upon the Gulf and its natural and human ecosystems. As details of the ca- lamity became available, they revealed frustrating parallels to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in the Gulf of Alaska in terms of causation and im- paired response capability. Similar systemic deficits characterized the ac- tions of corporate managers and state and federal regulators in the oil industry of both Gulfs. In a di-polar system where industry and govern- ment regulators come too close together, responsible overall manage- ment of operations and risks suffers. The lessons and recommendations incorporated in the 1990 Alaska Oil Spill Commission's Final Report on the Exxon Valdez spill, including watchdog citizen councils, were highly germane but largely ignored or forgotten in the decades between the Alaska Report's release and the 2010 BP tragedy. This Article reviews the Gulf of Mexico spill in light of the Gulf of Alaska spill, and notes how this time around we must finally learn how to deal more seriously with the mega-risks posed when di-polar convergences occur in these megasystems of hydrocarbon production and transport. * @ 2011, Zygmunt J.B. Plater, Professor of Law, Boston College Law School. The au- thor chaired the State of Alaska Oil Commission's legal task force after the 1989 wreck of the M.S. Exxon Valdez. This Article is built upon a shorter piece, published as part of an Environmental Law Institute Report. See ZygmuntJ.B. Plater, Learning from Disasters: Twenty- One Years After the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Will Reactions to the Deepoater Horizon Blowout Fi- nally Address the Systemic Flaws Revealed in Alaska? 40 ENVTL. L. REP. 11,041, 11,041 n.2 (2010), available at http://www.elr.info/articles/vol4O/40.11041.pdf. Both pieces bene- fited from the help, gratefully acknowledged, of two research assistants, Brendan Boyle and Joseph Horton, both of the Boston College Law School Class of 2012. The views ex- pressed here, other than those cited to the Commission and other sources, are the au- thor's own and not those of the Commission or of my research assistants. Given the on- rolling current events underlying this present analysis, a number of citations herein are necessarily given to press accounts which may be revised with further information. While noting this caveat, it is evident that many solid journalistic reports have come from the oiled waters and beaches of the Gulf, and that over time the factual record will, of course, be substantially deepened by historical vetting. 391