The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) was passed by the 101st United States Congress and signed by President George H. W. Bush. It works to reduce the likelihood of oil spills from vessels and facilities by enforcing removal of spilled oil and assigning liability for the cost of cleanup and damage; requires specific operating procedures; defines responsible parties and financial liability; implements processes for measuring damages; specifies damages for which violators are liable; and establishes a fund for damages, cleanup, and removal costs. This statute has resulted in instrumental changes in the oil production, transportation, and distribution industries.
Background Laws governing oil spills in the United States began in 1851 with the Limitation of Liability Act. This statue, in an attempt to protect the shipping industry, stated that vessel owners were liable for incident-related costs up to the post-incident value of their vessel. The shortcomings of this law were revealed in 1967 with the release of over 100,000 tons of crude oil into the English Channel from the SS Torrey Canyon. Of the $8 million of cleanup-related costs, the owners of the Torrey Canyon were held liable for only $50—the value of the only remaining Torrey Canyon lifeboat. In the meantime, the Oil Pollution Act of 1924 had passed, but this statute only limited liability for deliberate discharge of oil into marine waters. Two years following the Torrey Canyon spill, an oil platform eruption in the Santa Barbara Channel made national headlines and thrust oil pollution into the public spot light. As a result Congress placed oil pollution under the authority of the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970 (later amended by the Clean Water Act in 1972). The 1970 law set specific liability limitations. For example, vessels transporting oil were liable only up to $250,000 or $150 per gross ton. These limitations rarely covered the cost of removal and cleanup, let alone damages. In the decades to follow, several other laws that dealt with oil spill liability and compensation were passed. These statues include: the Ports and Waterways Safety Act of 1972, the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act of 1973, the Deep Water Port Act of 1974, the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act of 1978, and the Alaska Oil Spill Commission of 1990. However, this fragmented collection of federal and state laws provided only limited safeguards against the hazards of oils spills. In 1976, a bill to create a cohesive safe measure for oil pollution was introduced to Congress. Neither the House of Representatives nor the Senate could agree on a single statue and the bill fell out of consideration numerous times. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground in the Prince William Sound and spilled nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil—the largest marine oil spill in recorded history up to that point. Soon afterward, in June 1989, three smaller spills occurred within coastal waters of the United States. This was timely evidence that oil spills were not uncommon. Alaska Governor Steve Cowper authorized the creation of the Alaska Oil Spill Commission in May 1989 to examine the causes of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and issue recommendations on potential policy changes. Cowper appointed Walter B. Parker, a longtime transportation consultant and public official, as the chairman of the commission. Under Parker, the Commission issued 52 recommendations for improvements to industry, state, and federal regulations. Fifty of these recommendations were worked into the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, which was introduced into legislation on March 16, 1989 by Walter B. Jones, Sr., a Democratic Party congressman from North Carolina's 1st congressional district.
Enactment timeline March 16, 1989: H.R. 1465, the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, was introduced in the House of Representatives. June 21, 1989: The Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries reported the bill as amended. November 9, 1989: H.R. 1465 was passed by a vote in the House of Representatives. November 19, 1989: the bill was passed by the Senate, with revisions. The bill was sent back to the House of Representatives for approval of the changes added by the Senate. However, the House of Representatives did not agree to the revisions. August 2, 1990: a conference committee was created, including members of both the House of Representatives and Senate, in order to resolve differences and propose a final bill for approval. Initially, the Senate agreed to the committee's final proposed report. August 4, 1990: both chambers of Congress had passed the bill in identical form. The final step in the legislative process was for the bill to go to the President to either approve and sign or veto it. August 18, 1990: the bill was signed by the President and the Oil Pollution Act was officially enacted.
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