Slick work: An analysis of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Long before there was an Exxon Valdez releasing over ten million gallons of crude oil into cold Alaskan waters on March 24, 1989, there was a law establishing a comprehensive compensation and liability scheme for oil discharges into United States waters. For fifteen years, Congress had debated the need to improve that scheme to no avail. Then came the Exxon Valdez oil spill, an incident that highlighted the inadequacies of the existing legal regime as never before, raising the level of national concern and the severity of the congressional response - perhaps too far in light of the actual environmental harm caused by the vast majority of spills each year. This Article begins by providing an overview of the state of the law before passage of the OPA. The OPA is then discussed in-depth, contrasting and comparing it to the pre-existing law and offering insight into the Act`s key controversies and their resolutions in Congress. Discussion of the OPA begins by looking at provisions of the Act dealing with oil spill prevention and preparedness by addressing federal removal authority, oil spill contingency plan requirements, and double hull requirements for tank vessels. Next follows a discussion of the OPA`s liability regime, exploring a number of significant provisions: compensation for removal costs and damage incurred, defenses to liability, oil spill trust fund monies, extent of cleanup requirements, claims procedure against responsible parties, limitations on liability, financial responsibility requirements, penalties, natural resource damage compensation, jurisdiction and venue requirements, and preemption. The Article concludes with a discussion of the 1984 Oil and Spill Protocols, which attempt to address the problem of oil spills at the international level, and the failure of the United States to ratify the Protocols.
- OSTI ID:
- 458771
- Journal Information:
- Journal of Energy, Natural Resources amp Environmental Law, Journal Name: Journal of Energy, Natural Resources amp Environmental Law Journal Issue: 1 Vol. 12; ISSN 1053-377X; ISSN JENLFS
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
New Oil Pollution Act of 1990 will impact facilities, terminals, and transports in the oil industry
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990: Legislation in the wake of a crisis