Do You Really Want to be the Government's Partner?: Corporate and Government Investigations of Oil Spills1
ABSTRACT Failure to attend to causation and liability issues as soon as an incident occurs in the United States will haunt any (potentially) responsible party long after the actual response efforts have ended. Even during the often chaotic phase of initial response efforts, it is critical for responsible parties to have a system in place for handling internal investigations as well as responding to government inquiries. This paper describes issues and procedures that should be planned well in advance of a spill, and suggests specific steps for a company to follow to protect its interests during an internal company or external government investigation. Topics include preserving physical evidence, protecting the confidentiality of internal investigative records, identifying when the government is in an investigatory role, protecting the company and individuals during government interviews, and managing the resources dedicated to responding to an investigation while also cleaning up the spill.