Mexico's recent emergence as owner of the largest oil reserves in the western hemisphere, if not the world, makes it ironic that its initial attempts to tap these holdings led to the largest oil spill in history. On June 3, 1979, a blowout occurred at the IXTOC I exploratory well in the Bay of Campeche of the Gulf of Mexico, resulting in a continuing discharge of approximately 30,000 barrels of oil per day. After a few days, the spill had exceeded the magnitude of the infamous Santa Barbara spill of 1969. Efforts to cap the well proved fruitless and in only six weeks it had surpassed the unprecedented spill from the wreck of the supertanker Amoco Cadiz, which devastated French shores in 1978. The legal issues raised by the blowout, including liability for cleanup and damages, may take as long to resolve as it takes the environment to be cleansed of the effects of the spill.

The blowout presented no immediate threat to the American coast because the drill site is 500 miles from the Texas border. Yet, the threat was recognized immediately as a possibly serious one because of the extreme fragility of the ecological systems of the Texas gulf coast.¹ Implementing a mechanism established under the Clean Water Act of 1977,² The Coast Guard and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration led a group of federal agencies in forming an emergency response team. The combination of Mexican cleanup efforts at the drill site, deployment of miles of containment booms along the Texas barrier islands, and mild weather has kept the direct damages below early predictions.