OnEarth talks with Sarah Chasis, senior attorney and director of the NRDC ocean initiative and an expert on ocean protection.

What lessons do you draw from the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico?

It is clear that we do not know how to adequately protect communities and coastlines from the impact of offshore oil drilling. From faulty technology and basic human error to insufficient and potentially harmful cleanup techniques, there is now proof positive that we need to pause and ask ourselves what it really takes to drill safely off our coasts. We need a moratorium on all new oil activities offshore until the causes of the oil spill in the Gulf and its ramifications are fully understood.

What has the Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster shown about the state of oil spill containment and clean up?

The fact is that the technology to contain and clean up oil spills has not significantly improved in the two decades since the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The same booms, skimmers, and types of dispersants used in 1989 are still in use today. The equipment is proving to have only limited effectiveness now as it did then. The Coast Guard and other federal agencies were not prepared for a catastrophic incident such as this. The oil spill contingency plan did not anticipate a blowout that would go on for weeks. Nor is there a known way to contain and clean up the large underwater oil plumes that have originated from the leak. If oil companies had to prove that they could clean up a spill such as this before they were allowed to lease or drill, we would no doubt see vast improvements in oil spill containment and clean up technology.

How do we create an atmosphere in which disasters of this magnitude are avoided?

The Gulf of Mexico spill underscores this country's need for a strong national ocean policy that protects, maintains, and restores the health of our ocean and coastal ecosystems. The lack of such a policy contributed to the grossly inadequate system of regulations governing offshore drilling. Our nation has a Clean Air Act to protect our air and a Clean Water Act to protect our waters but no national policy to protect our ocean and coastal ecosystems. As the Gulf spill dramatically illustrates, the health of the ocean and coastal environment is intimately connected to our economic health. Fishing and tourism have already been severely affected along the Gulf Coast. Our oceans create more jobs and more economic output every year than the entire farm sector, yet we leave them this vulnerable. Current estimates peg the size of the Gulf spill at as many as 39 million gallons -- that is more than three times the size of the Exxon Valdez spill, which released 11 million gallons into the coastal waters of Alaska. A strong national ocean policy that guides federal decision-making is the prescription America's seas need to withstand the challenges they face, now more than ever.