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Punctuated Equilibrium in Social Theory

The punctuated equilibrium theory of policies predicts that the policy process will include distinct critical periods and on the other end includes equilibrium periods. Based on this theory it means that during the critical periods there are new laws and organizations being put into place that will create fundamental policy reforms that result in long-enduring arrangements. On the other end are the equilibrium points that could be defined as incremental policy shifts. This theory has been widely recognized as an important insight to the policy process as well as the environment policy process in particular. This theory can be specifically shown through the issue of oil tankers in Alaskan waters during the 1990's. The equilibrium period of this issue began around 1973 during the authorization of the Trans-Alaska pipeline system and ended in 1989 after the Exxon Valdez disaster. This period was characterized through incremental policy changes that occurred on both the federal and state laws of Alaska concerning marine oil pollution. These laws included a plethora of marine and water safety acts that were constantly challenged and being pushed by different oil companies both on the federal and state level. Some of these acts were even lost during the equilibrium period due to the members of congress as well other oil industries pushing back and overruling the already passed laws. Finally after a few smaller oil spills off of the Alaska coast there were some safeguards put in against the oil pollution in Alaska but these still only required minimum protection over the hulls of the ship and weren’t even required. This equilibrium period was finally broken in 1989 by the Exxon Valdez oil spill which brought upon a critical period.

The Exxon Valdez spill occurred due to what was found out as crew error and in turn resulted in the tanker grounded on Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound. Approximately 11 million gallons of oil from the tanker spilled and spread into the sea over more than one thousand miles of coastline in Alaska. This is what started the critical period for oil spill prevention acts to be more heavily looked at in congress and started the momentum of pushing different laws through. Following the spill more and more states were enacting laws and funds which were all designed to specifically deal with marine oil pollution along their coastlines. Different environmental groups got involved to bring a spotlight onto the subject resulting in different citizen advisory councils that oversaw these different environmental management laws that were being incorporated into the US. This critical period was then ended with the approval of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Due to this critical period occurring due to the spill of the Exxon Valdez there were new organizations focused on different aspects of oil spill response, prevention, and restoring the coasts of Alaska. This triggered wide media coverage of the incident as well as the new policies being put in place to prevent it from ever happening again.

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