Safeguarding the Public Interest: A Look At Government Policies That Affect the Opa 90 Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and Oil Spill Costs1
ABSTRACT U.S. government policies concerning the management of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) may be responsible for increased costs of oil spill cleanup in the United States. By not requiring measures of effectiveness and efficiency, and by enforcing policies that are disincentives to cost control, the government may be encouraging increased oil spill removal costs. The costs of an oil spill have increased substantially since the enactment of OPA 90, this despite improved spill response techniques and contingency planning. Rising costs have been attributed to:The government's acute sensitivity to public concerns about spill cleanupThe increased costs of natural resource damageThe inefficiency of spill response management This paper discusses the steps necessary to curb rising cleanup costs by changing policies relative to the management of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund OSLTF and by instituting measurements of spill response efficacy. Section I of the paper describes the current state of OPA 90 and the OSLTF. Section II outlines measurement and evaluation of oil spill responses using a Best Response model currently being developed by the U.S. Coast Guard. Section III describes several disincentives currently in place under policies of the OSLTF managers that have an effect on allowing increased costs for oil spill response.