ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on Brazil's legal framework, describes recent advances in Brazil's offshore oil exploration, and presents a foundation for understanding the extent to which such exploration is subject to environmental protection precepts under the Brazilian legal system. It uses the recent Chevron accident as a case study to illustrate some of the deficiencies in Brazilian environmental protection with regard to oil and gas production. In the United States, the oil has begun to provide long-awaited energy independence and security. In both countries, as in others, the oil presents formidable sustainability challenges. No stranger to accidents from oil exploration off its coast, Brazil recently experienced its first major environmental problem with deepwater oil production on the continental shelf. The United States' worst environmental disaster provides a host of lessons, not just for BP and the oil industry in the US and elsewhere but for business in general.
