Incentivizing Spill Response Innovation
Researchers tackle the tough problems despite a lack of funding and official incentives to move forward. Progress, in particular for Arctic spill response equipment and techniques, is being made. Even in the messy but now seemingly distant wake of such environmental disasters such as the Exxon Valdez grounding and the Deepwater Horizon accident, domestic oil spill response requirements still provide little or no incentive for responders in the U.S. to develop and deploy new equipment. Elsewhere, other countries (especially Norway) have better options for testing and approving systems using an intentional spill. Here at home, this approach has been recommended especially for the Arctic by many stakeholders, to no apparent avail.
Havnen:Port Security has Become the Dominant Maritime Issue
Much has been happening in the area of Transportation Security. The Department of Homeland Security has been created and will officially open its doors on March 1, 2003. The Coast Guard will remain intact and be an integral part of the new department. The International Maritime Organization (IMO) in London has been furiously at work generating new international standards. Last and not at all least, the Maritime Transportation Safety Act of 2002 (MTSA) is now the law of the land. For almost a year the Congress has been at an absolute impasse on the subject of maritime security. Suddenly, it has become sufficiently important (after the election) to draw the full attention of the Congress. The Lame Duck session of the Congress performed what had been impossible for the entire year.
