I see this is going to be highly contested and very costly but at the end of the day, the government has to insist on a much higher bond as one billion dollars is not going to cover the costs of a major spill and taxpayers should not be on the hook for whatever the billion dollar bond doesn't cover.  Keep in mind once the oil is in a super tanker, the oil and pipeline companies will not be accepting any responsibility and the 1 point five billion won't be sufficient to cover a major spill made by a super tanker.  Anything less than 10 billion would be too little to ensure all clean costs "might" be covered as nobody knows how high final costs might be assuming a cleanup is even possible.  Now is the time to insist and get what you can in the way  of insurance or bonds as they will be far more reluctant after the die is cast.