Michael Daley publishes Press Herald column on lessons of Gulf oil disaster

The Portland Press Herald on June 8, 2010 published a column by Michael Daley, Ph.D., assistant professor of economics. Daley ponders whether the disaster will rebound in political action. "The ongoing tragedy is an obvious market failure. The ability of oil companies to externalize risk by pushing it onto society and nature means that the price of oil is too low. Gasoline prices do not efficiently balance the private benefits of consumption with the private and social costs of production. Environmental economists have been saying this for decades, to marginal effect. The ongoing tragedy is also a failure of government to properly permit, inspect and enforce violations. Still, no level of inspection and enforcement can be adequate until deep-water oil drilling occurs with two or more relief wells in place prior to operation." Daley concludes: "Citizens could actually start to grapple with the truth that our nation's fossil-fuel-intensive way of life and the energy policy that underwrites it are in dire need of irreversible change. We'll see. Some habits die hard."

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