Stakeholder Perspectives About Marine Oil Spill Response Objectives: A Comparative Q Study of Four Regions

Marine oil spills can cause major social, economic, and ecological disruptions. Spill response managers must weigh different options and objectives when deciding what to do. We investigated the ways in which preferences for spill response objectives vary among those who are responsible for oil spill contingency planning and response in Buzzards Bay, Delaware Bay, San Francisco Bay, and Washington State regions. We begin this paper with a discussion of the research method used in the study: the Q method. In Buzzards Bay, Delaware Bay, and San Francisco Bay three perspectives were identified in each case. In Washington State, two perspectives were identified. An analysis of the 11 case-specific perspectives reveals that they can be described by four ‘composite’ perspectives that describe how different stakeholders prioritize spill response objectives. These four perspectives are compared on several themes, including the emphasis they placed on mitigating economic impacts, protecting health and safety, mitigating ecological impacts, implementing a coordinated and timely response, addressing the needs and concerns of the affected public/communities, gaining public support for the response, mitigating cultural impacts, and mitigating social nuisance impacts. The implications for spill response planning and spill response evaluation are discussed.

[1]  Nathan J. Wood,et al.  Vulnerability Assessment of a Port and Harbor Community to Earthquake and Tsunami Hazards: Integrating Technical Expert and Stakeholder Input , 2002 .

[2]  T. Webler,et al.  Competing Perspectives on a Process for Making Remediation and Stewardship Decisions at the Rocky Flats Environmental Technology Site , 2006 .

[3]  Capt Joseph T. Kuchin,et al.  Measuring Response: A Balanced Response Scorecard for Evaluating Success , 1999 .

[4]  Ann Hayward Walker,et al.  Lessons Learned in Ecological Risk Assessment Planning Efforts , 2001 .

[5]  Robin Gregory,et al.  Using decision analysis to encourage sound deliberation: water use planning in British Columbia, Canada , 2002 .

[6]  Igor Linkov,et al.  THE BOUCHARD-120 AND CHALK POINT SPILL RESPONSES: OBJECTIVES AND PERFORMANCE METRICS , 2007 .

[7]  Kristi M. Branch,et al.  An Evaluation of DOE-EM Public Participation Programs , 2003 .

[8]  Thomas A. Mazzuchi,et al.  Planning for Success: A Scenariobased Approach to Contingency Planning Using Expert Judgment , 1993 .

[9]  George E. Apostolakis,et al.  Deliberation: Integrating Analytical Results into Environmental Decisions Involving Multiple Stakeholders , 1998 .

[10]  I. Mitroff,et al.  Corporate Governance in the Context of Crises: Towards a Stakeholder Theory of Crisis Management , 2009 .

[11]  Barbara Champ Michael A. Ornitz.  Oil spills first principles: prevention and best response , 2002 .

[12]  J. Baker.  Ecological Effectiveness of Oil Spill Countermeasures: How Clean is Clean? , 1999 .

[13]  Sharon L. Caudle,et al.  Homeland Security Capabilities-Based Planning: Lessons from the Defense Community , 2005 .

[14]  Gary L. Ott,et al.  Area Contingency Plan Scorecard: Determining A Plan's Ability To Achieve “Critical Success Factors” , 2001 .

[15]  Glenn W. Suter.  Ecological Risk Assessment , 1992 .

[16]  Robin Gregory,et al.  Testing alternative decision approaches for identifying cleanup priorities at contaminated sites. , 2003, Environmental science & technology.

[17]  Seth Tuler,et al.  Four Perspectives on Public Participation Process in Environmental Assessment and Decision Making: Combined Results from 10 Case Studies , 2006 .

[18]  H. Fineberg,et al.  Understanding Risk: Informing Decisions in a Democratic Society , 1996 .

[19]  Judith Petts,et al.  Rapid Climate Change and Society: Assessing Responses and Thresholds , 2005, Risk analysis : an official publication of the Society for Risk Analysis.

[20]  Thomas A. Mazzuchi,et al.  EVALUATING OIL SPILL CONTINGENCY AND PREVENTION PLANS USING MEASURES OF QUALITY, NOT QUANTITY1 , 1995 .

[21]  S. Daniels,et al.  Working Through Environmental Conflict: The Collaborative Learning Approach , 2001 .