On April 20, 2010, an explosion on the offshore drilling platform Deepwater Horizon located in
the Gulf of Mexico resulted in the largest oil spill in U.S. history. The subsequent use of
massive amounts of chemical dispersants near the Gulf floor, an untested method, led to great
controversy regarding the regulation, use, and toxicity of dispersants of the COREXIT family of
products, as well as of dispersants in general.
This study compares dispersant (COREXIT brand products in particular) regulation and use in
the United States, Norway and the United Kingdom; the latter two countries are among the
largest oil producers in the European Union. This study also applies Kingdons conceptual
model of public policy development as a convergence of three independent streams in an
attempt to gauge the outlook for increased regulation in the United States regarding COREXIT
dispersants based on patterns of federal research funding, possible policy tool options, the
existence of political will, and the perspective of the dispersant industry. The study found that
with the exception of toxicity testing and approval mechanisms, the United States, Norway and
the United Kingdom differ little in dispersant regulation and use. When research funding was
examined, it was found that while initial funding levels increased, this may not be sustainable in
the long term and therefore not a reliable indicator of the likelihood of policy change in the U.S.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LSU/oai:etd.lsu.edu:etd-07082013-120110 |
| Date | 19 November 2013 |
| Creators | Arceneaux, Kelly |
| Contributors | Wascom, Michael, Walsh, Maud, Reams, Margaret |
| Publisher | LSU |
| Source Sets | Louisiana State University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-07082013-120110/ |
| Rights | unrestricted, I hereby certify that, if appropriate, I have obtained and attached herein a written permission statement from the owner(s) of each third party copyrighted matter to be included in my thesis, dissertation, or project report, allowing distribution as specified below. I certify that the version I submitted is the same as that approved by my advisory committee. I hereby grant to LSU or its agents the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible, under the conditions specified below and in appropriate University policies, my thesis, dissertation, or project report in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. I retain all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis, dissertation or project report. I also retain the right to use in future works (such as articles or books) all or part of this thesis, dissertation, or project report. |
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