A Brief History of EPA's Oil Spill Program

Since 1968, two years before the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was created, the federal government has played the primary role in ensuring that appropriate measures are taken to prevent oil spills and to control them when they do occur. The U.S. Congress, motivated by a major oil spill off the coast of England in 1967, published the National Contingency Plan the following year that established for the first time a national strategy for responding to oil spills. In 1970, the newly-formed EPA, together with the U.S. Coast Guard, assumed responsibility for implementing this national plan.

At the same time, Congress passed the Clean Water Act that, in part, directed EPA to implement oil spill prevention and response measures. EPA published regulations in 1973 that established spill prevention and control requirements for onshore, non-transportation-related facilities with either aboveground or underground storage tanks. In particular, regulated facilities are required to prepare Spill Prevention, Control and Countermeasure Plans, or SPCC Plans. These plans must include spill prevention procedures and methods as well as equipment guidelines.

Two other major oil spills, the Ashland Oil spill in Pennsylvania in 1988 and the disastrous Exxon Valdez spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound in 1989, prompted Congress to pass the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 to amend the Clean Water Act and improve the nation's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills. Under the new legislation, EPA has expanded its authority in the areas of contingency planning.