The Need for Better Tools to Balance Economic and Environmental Interests

The Need for Better Tools to Balance Economic and Environmental Interests

¶in the Gulf Federal agencies charged with managing activities within the U.S. Exclusive Economic Zone have tended to work largely in isolation from one another. Responsive to the recommendations of the 2004 U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy, President Obama in June 2009 directed two dozen federal departments and agencies to provide in-depth recommendations about how federal policy can address inefficiencies in the nation's traditionally ad hoc management of its seas. The Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force reported in the summer of 2010; its recommendations were subsequently included in a Presidential Executive Order, issued on July 15, 2010, that created a new National Ocean Council to coordinate federal marine policy.

Prominent recommendations included a requirement that key regional and federal authorities develop and implement coastal and marine spatial planning, for ocean users and the public. This system is designed to optimize marine productivity. More broadly, scientific advice grounded in peer-reviewed empirical research inform strategy and decisionmaking in ocean management, including for energy, shipping, national defense, sustainable fisheries, and conservation.

Recommendation E7: The appropriate federal agencies, including EPA, Interior, and NOAA, and the Trustees for Natural Resources should better balance the myriad economic and environmental interests concentrated in the Gulf region going forward. This would include improved monitoring and increased use of sophisticated tools like coastal and marine spatial planning. Many of these tools and capacities will also be important to manage areas of the OCS outside the Gulf.

The Commission recommends that as a part of management and restoration efforts in the marine environment greater attention should be given to new tools for managing ocean resources, including monitoring systems and spatial planning. Marine scientists have emerged from the Deepwater Horizon incident with more precise questions to investigate and a better sense of monitoring needs in the Gulf of Mexico, which because of its multiple uses and economic value should be a national priority. To that end, the National Ocean Council should work with the responsible federal agencies, industry and the scientific community to expand the Gulf of Mexico Integrated Ocean Observing System, including the installation and maintenance of an in situ network of instruments deployed on selected production platforms. Participation in this system by industry should be regarded as a reasonable part of doing business in nation's waters.

Coastal and marine spatial planning has the potential to improve overall efficiency and reduce conflicts among ocean users. Congress should fund grants for the development of regional planning bodies at the amount requested by the President in the fiscal year 2011 budget submitted to Congress. Ocean management should also include more strategically sited Marine Protected Areas, including but not limited to National Marine Sanctuaries, which can be used as "mitigation banks" to help offset harm to the marine environment. Given the economic and cultural importance of fishing in the Gulf region—and the importance of Gulf seafood to the rest of the country—scientifically valid measures, such as catch share programs, should be adopted to prevent overfishing and ensure the continuity of robust fisheries.

Marine spatial planning was designed to ensure that myriad ocean management decisions are compatible and consistent, that they make sense. In the decades since marine protection began, scientists have developed a much more robust understanding of the Gulf 's physical and ecological processes. Now, for example, Marine Protected Areas can be used—and should be used—to ensure the continuity and robustness of fisheries into the future. Rationalizing ocean use around this much improved scientific understanding—for example, by identifying which parts of the ocean are appropriate (or inappropriate) for certain

¶uses—should serve to maximize the productivity of natural systems and end inefficient or harmful practices that have accumulated over time.

Ensuring Financial Responsibility

¶As described in Chapter 6, oil spills cause a range of harms, both economic and environmental, to individuals and ecosystems. The Oil Pollution Act makes the party responsible for a spill liable for compensating those who suffered as a result of the spill—through property damage, lost profits, and other economic injuries—and for restoring injured natural resources. The Act also provides an opportunity to make claims for compensation from a dedicated Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. The Oil Pollution Act, however, imposes limits on both the amount for which the responsible party is liable, and the amount of compensation available through the trust fund. In the case of the Deepwater Horizon spill, BP (a responsible party) has placed $20 billion in escrow to compensate private individuals and businesses through the independent Gulf Coast Claims Facility. But if a less well capitalized company had caused the spill, neither a multi-billion dollar compensation fund nor the funds necessary to restore injured resources, would likely have been available.

¶It is critical that compensation to victims be paid in full, and that the process for receiving compensation is swift and efficient. The Commission offers recommendations that would increase assurances that responsible parties are able to compensate victims (and at the same time strengthens incentives to prevent accidents in the first place), and that the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund provide any compensation not provided by responsible parties. It also recommends a close review of the Gulf Coast Claims Facility process to determine its effectiveness in adjudicating compensation claims and its value as a model for future Spills of National Significance.