Sergei Vinogradov

The Impact of the Deepwater Horizon: The Evolving International Legal Regime for Offshore Accidental Pollution Prevention, Preparedness, and Response

The Deepwater Horizon incident in the Gulf of Mexico has ignited unprecedented global attention and debate on and global review of the efficiency and effectiveness of the existing international regimes governing offshore operations; particularly, accidental pollution prevention, preparedness, and response mechanisms. This article looks at these developments.

Toward Regional Cooperation in the Caspian: A Legal Perspective

One of the most “spectacular” contests over the riches of the Caspian Sea is currently being waged by four former Soviet Union republics (Azerbaijan, Kazakstan, Russia and Turkmenistan) and Iran. (For a more detailed summary of the background to this controversy, see [40, 39, 15, 21].) The demise of the Soviet Union and emergence of new independent States have drastically changed the entire geopolitical situation in the Caspian region. The extant legal regime of the Caspian Sea, based on the outdated but still valid agreements between the former Soviet Union and Iran, is no longer sufficient to deal with the host of complex political, economic and environmental problems affecting the region. The situation is aggravated by unilateral claims of the riparian States to the sea. Although the coastal States are currently discussing how the regime of the Caspian Sea might be resolved, the dispute is not yet settled and the potential for growing international tension is evident.

The “Tug of War” in the Caspian: Legal Positions of the Coastal States

The paper addresses one of the most controversial issues, which has been confronting the littoral states of the Caspian Sea for close to a decade. What legal regime should govern various activities in the Sea, including exploitation of its abundant mineral and living resources? Two fundamentally different approaches continue to dominate the debate. The first is to deal with the Sea as a “common” asset of all coastal states, which should be managed and developed on a consensual basis. The second is to divide the Sea among all littoral states into respective national parts in accordance with a sectoral principle. The respective positions of the Caspian states are determined by a wide range of economic, political, and historical factors. Their failure thus far to reach a mutually acceptable compromise is the major obstacle for the development of the petroleum potential of the region and the coordinated efforts to protect its fragile environment.