BP’s Deepwater Horizon blew has caused terrible economic impact this environmental disaster will have on the fishing and other industries. It is obvious that the most affected were the commercial fishers, charter boat operators and marina owners. They have been put out of business, and the governments and BP are rushing to make them whole, to repair their losses as a result of this mistake — even to counsel them through the emotional trauma.
Besides, there are other people the recreational users, and the rest of the citizen-owners of these resources. What about these people and who will mitigate the lost hours and days they would have spent in their wetlands and in the Gulf of Mexico enjoying land and water that also belongs to them. These are some of the intrinsic societal values that helped spur the nation to set aside portions of our land and water in a public trust. And, in fact, our community has always been the largest users of these properties, as well as their most responsible custodians.
Congress has decided the Gulf and coastal ecosystems are only “valuable” where economists can estimate their impact in the billions of dollars. So commercial fishing operations must be compensated, and the enormous risks with which the energy industry threatens the entire system is justified by its huge economic impact.
Indeed, groups representing recreational users have taken up the same argument, quantifying the “value” of a healthy functioning ecosystem not for its role in the quality of our lives, but for its economic impact. The keepers of the public trusts now are scrambling to repair the monetary damages that mistake has caused commercial fishers, charter boat operators, marina owners and other who can show a dollar value for their losses.
