Polluter Pays Principle and the Role of the Responsible Party: lessons from the MV Marathassa spill
Presentation Abstract
In the context of spilled crude oil, critiques of the Polluter Pays Principle generally focus on whether the legal limit of financial liability for the Responsible Party is adequate to cover the cost of worst case scenarios. My presentation will not address this larger issue. Instead, it will focus on the role of the Responsible Party in the Incident Command Post during the emergency phase of spill response.
When an Incident Command Post is set up, it has a specific, multi-faceted structure. From the Tsleil-Waututh perspective, two groups are key—Unified Command for overall decision making, and an Environmental Unit which has the responsibility to identify cultural and environmental sensitivities.
For ship-based spills while undocked in marine waters, the Responsible Party has a generally accepted role to play in Unified Command, but not one in the Environmental Unit. The accepted role is to approve financial expenditures for response actions as they are reviewed and approved by Unified Command. The Responsible Party does not have veto authority, but the spill response unfolds more smoothly with consensus-based decision making.
My presentation will describe how the MV Marathassa response deviated from these generally accepted norms, and how that deviation compromised spill response including the evaluation of environmental and cultural heritage impacts.
Session Title
Community perspectives on oil spill planning and response
Keywords
Keywords: oil spill response, incident command, unified command, environmental unit, policy, procedure, environmental impact
Conference Track
Fate and Effects of Pollutants
Conference Name
Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference (2016 : Vancouver, B.C.)
Document Type
Event
Start Date
2016 12:00 AM
End Date
2016 12:00 AM
Location
2016SSEC
Type of Presentation
Oral
Genre/Form
conference proceedings; presentations (communicative events)
Contributing Repository
Digital content made available by University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Oil spills--Cleanup--Tsleil-Waututh Nation; Oil spills--Management; Oil spills--Environmental aspects;
Geographic Coverage
Salish Sea (B.C. and Wash.); Tsleil-Waututh Nation
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws. For more information about rights or obtaining copies of this resource, please contact University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA 98225-9103, USA (360-650-7534; heritage.resources@wwu.edu) and refer to the collection name and identifier. Any materials cited must be attributed to the Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference Records, University Archives, Heritage Resources, Western Libraries, Western Washington University.
Type
Text
Language
English
Format
application/pdf
Polluter Pays Principle and the Role of the Responsible Party: lessons from the MV Marathassa spill
2016SSEC
In the context of spilled crude oil, critiques of the Polluter Pays Principle generally focus on whether the legal limit of financial liability for the Responsible Party is adequate to cover the cost of worst case scenarios. My presentation will not address this larger issue. Instead, it will focus on the role of the Responsible Party in the Incident Command Post during the emergency phase of spill response.
When an Incident Command Post is set up, it has a specific, multi-faceted structure. From the Tsleil-Waututh perspective, two groups are key—Unified Command for overall decision making, and an Environmental Unit which has the responsibility to identify cultural and environmental sensitivities.
For ship-based spills while undocked in marine waters, the Responsible Party has a generally accepted role to play in Unified Command, but not one in the Environmental Unit. The accepted role is to approve financial expenditures for response actions as they are reviewed and approved by Unified Command. The Responsible Party does not have veto authority, but the spill response unfolds more smoothly with consensus-based decision making.
My presentation will describe how the MV Marathassa response deviated from these generally accepted norms, and how that deviation compromised spill response including the evaluation of environmental and cultural heritage impacts.
Comments
KEY WORDS: oil spill response, incident command, unified command, environmental unit, policy, procedure, environmental impact