California's Oil Spill is Proof That Climate Action is Worth the Cost
A story in Quartz quotes a vintage RFF analysis detailing the chronic undervaluation of ecosystem damage from oil spills.
Losses to local businesses like fisheries and tourism have to be litigated in civil court and may not be fully covered. Costs associated with lost quality of life and damage to ecosystems are routinely undervalued, according to an analysis by the research nonprofit Resources for the Future; in the case of the 1989 Exxon-Valdez spill, for example, real ecosystem damage may have been up to seven times higher than the $1 billion in restoration fees paid by the company.
