Vanderbilt Law Review Volume 64 | Issue 6 Article 3 11-2011 Real-Time Economic Analysis and Policy Development During the BP "Deepwater Horizon" Oil Spill Joseph E. Aldy Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr Part of the Environmental Law Commons Recommended Citation Joseph E. Aldy, Real-Time Economic Analysis and Policy Development During the BP "Deepwater Horizon" Oil Spill, 64 Vanderbilt Law Review 1793 (2019) Available at: https://scholarship.law.vanderbilt.edu/vlr/vol64/iss6/3 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Vanderbilt Law Review by an authorized editor of Scholarship@Vanderbilt Law. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. Real-Time Economic Analysis and Policy Development During the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill Joseph E. Aldy 64 Vand. L. Rev. 1795 (2011) The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill posed near-term economic risks to the Gulf of Mexico region and raised questions about appropriate policies to mitigate catastrophic oil-spill risks. This Essay reviews the Obama Administration's assessment of the economic vulnerabilities to the spill, the Administration'sMay 12, 2010, legislative proposal focused on minimizing the adverse economic impacts to workers and small businesses in the Gulf of Mexico, and the effort to secure an agreement with BP to ensure that those harmed by the spill will receive full compensation. Then, the Essay discusses several of the policy reforms advanced by the Administration to reduce the risks of future catastrophic oil spills, including the value of an industry consortium to provide deepwater well- containment resources and the need to remove the arbitrary limit on liability for economic damages from offshore drilling.