Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

"Senator Graham and I welcome the national council's day long focus on offshore oil drilling. The day is packed with substantive discussions of many critical aspects of drilling - lessons we've learned from the BP disaster last April, remedies and regulatory fixes, future prospects, and more."

- Hon. William Reilly

On April 20, 2010, an explosion of the Deepwater Horizon offshore oil platform caused what would become the largest marine oil spill in history.  For the next 86 days, people watched in horror as five million barrels of oil flowed into the ecologically fragile Gulf of Mexico.  Several unsuccessful attempts to stop the flow of oil prior to July 15 highlight the need for an in-depth discussion surrounding offshore drilling. 

NCSE’s Gulf of Mexico Oil Disaster Symposium began this discussion.  Throughout the day, renowned speakers discussed the underlying causes of the explosion, evaluated the disaster preparedness of oil companies and federal and local government agencies, and analyzed the response efforts to determine possible improvements for future oil spills.  The Oil Disaster Symposium also assessed the short- and long-term ecological, social, and economic impacts of the oil spill, and began to develop solutions to restore the Gulf of Mexico. Through this process, we hope to be able to minimize the short- and long-term impacts of this oil spill and prevent future disasters. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill demonstrates the shortcomings of our scientific understanding and environmental decision-making processes.  This symposium, which hosted prominent speakers such as Senator Bob Graham and Honorable William O’Reilly, co-chairs of the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling constitutes  an important step in addressing these shortcomings and preventing such disasters from reoccurring.

8:00 a.m.	Registration, Continental Breakfast, Exhibition and Scientific Poster presentations open
8:30 a.m.	Historical Perspective (Video) - Tyler Priest, University of Houston
	Keynote Address: interviewed by Ray Suarez, PBS
	Honorable William Reilly		Senator Bob Graham
9:00 a.m.	Co-Chairs, National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling
9:45 a.m.	Keynote - A Vision for the Future - Interior Secretary Salazar
10:15 a.m.	Plenary 1: Before Drilling - Planning and Preparedness   Moderator: Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post Discussants:
	Kim Loch Fletcher Abt Associates	Frances Beinecke NRDC			Erik Milito American Petroleum Institute
11:20 a.m.	Plenary 2: Root Causes of Incidents and Responses   Moderator: Cutler Cleveland, Boston University Discussants:
	Marcia McNutt Director, US Geological Survey			Charlie Williams Shell, Chief Scientist Well Engineering and Production Technology
	Adm. Thad Allen Former Coast Guard Commandant, National Incident Commander of the BP Oil Spill, Rand Corporation			Dr. Nancy Leveson Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics, MIT
12:20 p.m.	Lunch
1:35 p.m.	Plenary 3: Impacts: Short-term and Long-term   Moderator: Richard Harris, NPR Discussants:
	John "Wes" Tunnell Associate Director, Harte Research Institute, Texas A&M Corpus Christi			Charles "Pete" Peterson Alumni Distinguished Professor, Marine Sciences, Biology and Ecology, University of North Carolina
	Ed Overton Professor Emeritus of Environmental Sciences, Louisiana State University's School of the Coast and Environment			David Yoskowitz Harte Research Institute's Chair of Socio-Economics, Texas A&M University
2:40 p.m.	Keynote Address – Restoration Plan for the Gulf Dr. Charles “Chip” Groat, University of Texas
3:10 p.m.	Plenary 4: Restoration Moderator: John Hankinson, EPA Gulf Coast Restoration Task Force Discussants:
	Cynthia “Cindy” Dohner Regional Director Southeast Region, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service			Steve Murawski Research Professor, University of South Florida Former Chief Science Advisor, NOAA Fisheries
	Jim Ayers Former executive director of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustees Council, Former Chief of Staff for Alaska Gov. Knowles			Jim Tripp Senior Counsel, Environmental Defense Fund
4:15 p.m.	Plenary 5: Visions for the Future Moderator: Ira Flatow, NPR
	Major General Michael Walsh Army Corps of Engineers			Dr. William Walker Mississippi Dept of Marine Resources; Exec. Director, Gulf of Mexico Alliance
	Dr. Donald Boesch President, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science			Cindy Brown Director, Gulf of Mexico ProgramThe Nature Conservancy