Rikki Ott - United States
Change Through Legislation
Background: In March 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez struck a reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, spilling more than 11 million gallons of crude oil.
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Okay when I ended up in Cordova, the fishermen said, "Look, here’s what we need you to do. You know we need you to use your brain and use your computer.” I had a big desktop computer, okay, to generate legislation for Washington D.C., and for the state of Alaska because now we’re gonna have people moving on it. So I hiked up, got my toboggan, brought my computer down the hill, and set up camp in town at Jack Lamb’s house because Jack Lamb ended up over in Valdez. So it was like this giant hopscotch. I generated legislation and that became part of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, that became part of the state, some of the state laws that passed. I ended up going back to D.C. to testify. That was, like, my role because suddenly the scientist- the fisherman realized we have a use for a scientist after all!
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