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Iron Triangle

Congress

-reviewed existing legislation and made recommendations for CWA

EPA

Sierra Club

-responsible for formulations and implementing the regulations needed to enforce adherence by companies

-works to influence Congress and executive departments to enforce stricter legislation and regulations on corporations to protect environment

What is the policy supposed to do?

Goals and Outcomes

Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act regulates the discharge of pollutants into the nation's surface waters, including lakes, rivers, streams, wetlands, and coastal areas.

The Clean Water Act’s preamble declared that the nation’s waters would be swimmable and fishable within a decade, with no discharges of pollutants within a dozen years. The Clean Water Act has fulfilled its ambition. The sewage discharges that were common in the 1960s are rare. The number of waters meeting quality goals has roughly doubled. Once a convenient dumping ground for all manner of filth, rivers in Hartford, Conn., Kansas City, Kan., Cleveland, and other cities have based much of their redevelopment around their now clean and inviting waters, with waterfront parks and the lure of fishing and trails along the water’s edge.

Where it originated:

Introduced in the Senate in 1971 Committee consideration

Passed the Senate on November 2, 1971

Passed the House on March 29, 1972

Reported by the joint conference committee on October 4, 1972,

agreed to by the House on October 4, 1972 and by the Senate on October 4, 1972.

Vetoed by President Richard Nixon on October 17, 1972

Overridden by the Senate on October 17, 1972

Overridden by the House and became law on October 18, 1972

Who benefits?

Regulation of the CWA

The people, plants, animals, coasts, oceans, ecosystems, the environment

How goals are achieved:

The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained. EPA's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program controls discharges. Point sources are discrete things such as pipes or man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.

  • First, clarify the scope of the Act.
  • Second, provide stronger rules to stop the things causing the contamination and pollution.
  • Third, address the pollution.
  • Fourth, bring the energy production practice under the Clean Water Act and establish requirements that safeguard water from contamination.
  • Fifth, start water conservation and efficiency.
  • Six, restore natural flow patterns to waters.
  • Lastly, innovative responses and adaptations to problem are needed.

Iron Triangle

(3 political actors)

Cause of Spill

BP Oil Spill

The Exxon Valdez oil spill happened in Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 24, 1989, when Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker bound for Long Beach, California, hit Prince William Sound's Bligh Reef and spilled 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of crude oil over the next few days.

Oil rig regulations

What was done to fix it

Changes to oil tankers

Did the policies/tactics work?

Oil Pollution Act/Clean Water Act

The spill effected lawmakers who passed the federal 1990 Oil Pollution Act to help stop a repeat of the disaster by increasing oversight, stiffening penalties, mandating contingency planning, and creating new research programs.

Since the crash, the push for double-hulling oil tankers has increased, with the United Nations mandating a worldwide phase-out of most single-hulled ships next year. Tanker tracking and warning systems, aided by the advent of the satellite-based global positioning system, have improved tremendously.

Thicker and doubled hulls, better monitoring and a rested, well-trained crew will not always be enough.

The Exxon-Valdez was repaired in San Diego. It is no longer owned by Exxon. Currently, the Exxon-Valdez transports oil in Asia as of 2009.

The U.S. Coast Guard now monitors tankers as they pass through Valdez Narrows, cruise by Bligh Island, and exit Prince William Sound at Hinchinbrook Entrance.

Two escort vessels accompany each tanker while passing through the entire sound. They are able to help the tanker in an emergency.

Who benefited? Who was hurt? What is the cost?

Casing and cementing, including integrity testing requirements

third-party certification and verification requirements

Blowout preventer capability

testing, and documentation obligations

Standards for specific well control training, to include deepwater operations.

All tankers transporting oil through Prince William Sound are now double-hulled. Double hulls, basically two steel skins separated by several feet of space, are an effective design feature which can reduce or eliminate spills that result from groundings or collisions.

All tanker captains/crew members suspected of consuming alcohol are now subject to alcohol tests before sailing. Crews now receive more training and work hours are limited to reduce accidents caused by fatigue.

The two escort tugs mean extra trained crew members are watching and can notify the tanker crew if they are off course.

Of course, the Clean Water Act is not perfect. Sure, people/ecosystems/companies benefited, but those same 3 factors were also hurt too.

The ecosystem and many fisheries were hurt in the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, suffering great losses.

In the BP Oil Spill, workers aboard the rig were killed, and the spill put thousands out of work, as well as killing the environment and animals along the way.

Both oil spills cost billions of dollars in cleanup efforts and suits.

Cost

Cause

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 amended the Clean Water Act and talked about preventing, responding to, and paying for oil pollution incidents in navigable waters of the United States. The OPA did the following:

•Set new requirements for vessel construction and crew licensing and manning,

•Mandated contingency planning,

•Enhanced federal response capability,

•Broadened enforcement authority,

•Increased penalties,

•Created new research and development programs,

•Increased potential liabilities, and

•Significantly broadened financial responsibility requirements

Exxon Valdez Oil Spill

Sources

High-pressure methane gas from the well expanded into the drilling riser and rose into the drilling rig, where it exploded.

BP is responsible for close to $40 billion in fines, cleanup costs, and settlements as a result of the oil spill in 2010, with an additional $16 billion due to the Clean Water Act.

http://cfpub.epa.gov/npdes/cwa.cfm?program_id=45

http://www.epa.gov/agriculture/lcwa.html

How can you tell the policy is working?

http://www.valdezrca.com/

http://www.pbs.org/now/science/cleanwater.html

What was done

http://www2.epa.gov/emergency-response/exxon-valdez-spill-profile

Effects on Environment

https://www.dosomething.org/facts/11-facts-about-bp-oil-spill

The Environmental Protection Agency estimates that about a third of the nation’s waters are still unhealthy. About 117 million Americans get some or all of their drinking water from sources now lacking protection. Almost daily, a new spill is recorded in the Gulf. Spill sizes vary. Although the policy has protected many Americans and waterways, there is still much work to be done.

"The choice between a healthy environment and a healthy economy is a false one. They stand, or fall, together."

https://www.nwf.org/What-We-Do/Protect-Habitat/Gulf-Restoration/Oil-Spill/Effects-on-Wildlife.aspx

Cost

Environmental Effects

Exxon says it spent about $2.1 billion on the cleanup effort.

Exxon settled for $900 million in 1991, to be paid over ten years. Then, in 1994, a jury in Alaska ordered Exxon to pay an additional $5 billion in damages as a result of a class-action lawsuit brought by Alaskan residents.

the U.S. Supreme Court lowered this fine to about $500 million after multiple appeals from Exxon.

First BP unsuccessfully attempted to close the blowout preventer valves on the wellhead with remotely operated underwater vehicles.

Next it placed a 280,000 lb dome over the largest leak and piped the oil to a storage vessel. While this worked in shallow water, it failed here when gas combined with cold water to form methane hydrate crystals that blocked the opening at the top of the dome.

BP then inserted a riser insertion tube into the pipe and a stopper-like washer around the tube plugged the end of the riser and diverted the flow into the insertion tube.

On September 3, 2010 the failed blowout preventer was removed and a replacement was installed. On September 16, the relief well reached its destination and pumping of cement to seal the well began. On September 19, National Incident Commander Thad Allen declared the well "effectively dead" and said that it posed no further threat to the Gulf.

More than 8,000 birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals were found injured or dead in the six months after the spill.

Oil coated bird feathers, causing birds to lose their buoyancy and the ability to regulate body temperature.

Mammals could have ingested oil, which causes ulcers and internal bleeding.

Sea turtles were covered in oil

Dead and dying deep sea corals were discovered seven miles from the Deepwater Horizon well.

The damages caused direct impact on food stocks and fisheries, their economic and tourism losses due to environmental contamination and pollution of waterways and land.

Thousands of miles of shoreline and the abundance of wildlife in the region combined to make it an environmental disaster bigger than any other spill.

The bodies of more than 35,000 birds and 1,000 sea otters were found after the spill, but since most bodies sink, this is considered to be a small fraction of the actual deaths. Lingering injuries continue to plague some injured species while others are fully recovered.

The oil gets on the fur/feathers and destroys the insulation. Birds and mammals then die of hypothermia.

They eat the oil while trying to clean the oil off their fur/feathers.

The oil impacts them in ways that does not lead to a quick death, such as damaging the liver or causing blindness.

What prevented it from working well?

What do experts say about the success of the policy?

Things that prevent the CWA from working vary from oil spills, chemical spills, surface water pollution, unsafe work places, poor regulation, etc.

  • "Our company depends on clean water for our success. That’s why we’re pleased that the EPA issued new draft rules for enforcement of the Clean Water Act. Enforcement of the Clean Water Act’s provisions has become incredibly complex, leaving businesses and consumers without clarity. This action by the EPA will give us the confidence we need to know that our access to clean water will be protected. The EPA has done a terrific job of coming up with these new rules. They don’t give the agency any additional power that isn’t already granted to them by the 1972 Clean Water Act."

-Vervier is Director of Sustainability and Strategy for New Belgium Brewing Company

Environmental degradation due to oil production resulting in the Clean Water Act

Quinn Marchal

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