Speech stresses oil spill lessons

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By Megan Gildow, Staff Writer Updated 11:12 AM Thursday, September 2, 2010

SPRINGFIELD — Wittenberg University kicked off the 2010-11 school year Wednesday, Sept. 1, with a convocation speech on the lessons learned from the Gulf oil spill and a message about the importance of honoring the school’s mission of integrity from an alumna.

The April 20 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico has far-reaching — and in some cases, still undetermined — human, environmental and economic impacts, said environmental lawyer Linda Stuntz, who earned her bachelor’s degree from Wittenberg in 1976. She is the newest member of the university's board of directors.

Stuntz earned her law degree from Harvard University and was recognized as one of the “leading energy lawyers in the nation” by the Legal Times in 2005, according to Wittenberg staff. She is a founding partner of Stuntz, Davis and Staffer, a Washington, D.C.-based law firm, and she served as the deputy secretary of the U.S. Department of Energy under President George H.W. Bush.

In the days leading up to the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon rig and resulting oil spill, people ignored the opportunity to do what’s right, she said.

“These things seem small, and it’s really easy to become complacent when it seems ‘everything will be fine,’ ” Stuntz said, quoting an e-mail from an engineer at BP, the majority owner of the rig.

“Please remember to think about how your decisions reflect on your school, your family and yourselves,” she said.