Date of Award
Spring 5-2013
Degree Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.U.R.P.
Degree Program
Urban and Regional Planning
Department
Planning and Urban Studies
Major Professor
Nance, Earthea, PhD
Second Advisor
Ehrenfeucht, Renia, PhD; Birkland, Thomas, PhD
Abstract
The 2010 BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico awakened communities to the increased risk of large-scale damage along their coastlines presented by new technology in deep water drilling. Normal accident theory and high reliability theory offer a framework through which to view the 2010 spill that features predictive criteria linked to a qualitative assessment of risk presented by technology and organizations. The 2010 spill took place in a sociotechnical system that can be described as complex and tightly coupled, and therefore prone to normal accidents. However, the entities in charge of managing this technology lacked the organizational capacity to safely operate within this sociotechnical system.
Recommended Citation
Cade, Evelyn, "Risk, Oil Spills, and Governance: Can Organizational Theory Help Us Understand the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill?" (2013). University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations. 1614.
https://scholarworks.uno.edu/td/1614
Included in
Energy Policy Commons, Environmental Policy Commons, Public Administration Commons, Science and Technology Policy Commons, Science and Technology Studies Commons, Theory, Knowledge and Science Commons, Urban Studies and Planning Commons, Work, Economy and Organizations Commons
Rights
The University of New Orleans and its agents retain the non-exclusive license to archive and make accessible this dissertation or thesis in whole or in part in all forms of media, now or hereafter known. The author retains all other ownership rights to the copyright of the thesis or dissertation.