One thing obvious from the gulf spill, is that recovery technology has not kept pace with deep-water drilling technology. The time-lag involved in development & engineering if left to the free market is a huge externality. We don't want accident recovery to lag further and further behind as oil drilling goes into more extreme and environmentally sensitive environments. (And you know that it will!)

contribute to a general R&D fund or something like that.

They need to do more than they have been.