Introduction Moving from Disaster to Opportunity

Abstract

In the spring and summer of 2010, America was transfixed by the image of oil spewing into the Gulf of Mexico from the collapsed remnants of the Deepwater Horizon oil platform. Images of majestic pelicans floundering in oil and the personal stories of the eleven crew members who lost their lives when the oil platform exploded were interspersed with camera shots of the seemingly never-ending stream of oil emanating from a broken pipe a mile below the Gulf’s surface. While the Deepwater Horizon disaster became the poster child for corporate greed and neglect, few considered how America’s transportation dependence on oil helped stimulate demand for the oil pouring into the Gulf. Seventy percent of all oil consumed in the United States goes to the transportation sector, mostly powering single-occupant vehicles that Americans use for 82 percent of all trips.1