Albany Law Review to Host Fall Symposium on the Gulf Oil Spill Disaster

On April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion took the lives of 11 workers, and injured 17 others.  Attention to this devastation quickly turned to a much larger issue: the countless barrels of crude oil flowing unencumbered into the Gulf of Mexico.  BP has estimated that approximately 100,000 barrels per day have been flowing into the Gulf’s vibrant ecosystem.  This fall, the Albany Law Review is presenting a symposium exploring the aftermath of the continuing oil spill.

The immediate legal impact of the oil spill lies in the countless pending and forthcoming actions against BP.  We plan to explore lawsuits arising from the private sector, as well as civil and criminal claims from several state and federal government agencies.  Dissecting these actions will not only help gauge the repercussions of causing such terrific economic and environmental harm, but it will outline how legal action can be used to shape the new laws and regulations that will undoubtedly arise from this ordeal.

A flurry of activity has taken place since the beginning of the spill.  President Obama has ordered the formation of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling.  An “Oil Czar” has been appointed.  Legal actions have been contemplated and filed.  BP has hired a large defense firm as well as an extensive team of lobbyists.  All of this has occurred less than two months after the explosion.  Clearly, both the oil industry and the United States government are already bracing for the inevitable struggle set to ensue that will decide the future of the offshore drilling and oil industries.  The symposium will invite discussion on whether the current regulatory framework is sufficient and what course of action the federal government will likely take in order to prevent similar environmental disasters.  Further, we will outline the respective roles of the Coast Guard and the EPA in undergoing such an enormous cleanup operation and whether the agencies’ responses were, and continue to be, adequate.

While the symposium will have overarching themes of legal and regulatory responses, speakers will be asked to contemplate the social, and of course, environmental effects of the oil spill.  We hope this timely event will serve as the foremost scholarly discussion on this global event and deliver a truly candid discussion of such an important topic.

For more information on this symposium, contact Joe Dier, Executive Editor for Symposia, at jdier@albanylaw.edu