VLS Professor Advocates Radical Steps in Response to Gulf Oil Spill
July 23, 2010
Professor Pat Parenteau discussed the Gulf oil spill during a Hot Topics lecture on July 22, 2010.
Pat Parenteau is fed up.
One of the leading environmental scholars in the United States, Parenteau said America's environmental laws have proven miserably ineffective at preventing catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill.
At a Hot Topics panel discussion July 22 on the Gulf spill, the Vermont Law School professor called for radical steps to end America's dependence on oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and lessen the risk of future fossil fuel-related disasters. He demanded passage of a federal tax that would raise gas prices to $5 a gallon to encourage Americans to forego their cars for walking, bicycling and public transportation.
"We don't need to close loopholes in federal laws," Parenteau said. "I'm not for small tweaks anymore. That's rearranging the deck chairs" on the Titanic. "We need to stop using oil. I've been doing this for 38 years. I've seen it. I'm tired of it."
Parenteau was joined on the panel by Professor Lee Breckenridge of Northeastern University School of Law and Boston Globe environmental reporter Beth Daley.
The Deepwater Horizon, a drilling rig working on a well for the oil company BP a mile below the surface of the Gulf of Mexico, exploded April 20, leading to the largest oil spill in U.S. history. BP capped the leaking well, at least temporarily, on July 15, but it is expected to take years for the gulf's environment and economy to recover.
Daley said BP and federal government officials hindered media coverage of the spill by ignoring requests for information or providing incomplete information.
Breckenridge asked why the National Environmental Policy Act, Endangered Species Act, Oil Pollution Act and other federal laws designed to prevent such disasters had failed. "Why wasn't the basic analysis done before the project was approved," she said. "Why weren't these laws enough to cause the necessary scrutiny?"
She also discussed inappropriate ties between government regulators and the oil industry. But she also questioned why environmental groups hadn't pressured government regulators to do their jobs.
Parenteau, an expert in climate change and ocean resources, said the Gulf's fragile ecology may never recover from the estimated 40 millions gallons of oil that have leaked so far. "And this is the deepest spill by far, so we literally have no idea what we've done to the Gulf ecosystem," he said. "The damage is just incalculable."
More than 40 years after America's major environmental laws were adopted, Parenteau said it's time to accept that those laws have failed. "I don't care what law we pass, we're way outside the bounds of what laws can do to manage this issue," he said. "It's time, once and for all, to stop this - to get off this oil addiction."
Breckenridge disagreed, saying she still believes legislators, regulators and the public can push through laws that reduce the risk of catastrophes such as the Gulf oil spill.
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