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Overview
The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) was signed into law in August
1990, largely
in response to rising public concern following the
Exxon Valdez incident. The
OPA
improved the nation's ability to prevent and respond to oil
spills by
establishing provisions that expand
the federal government's ability, and provide the money and
people necessary, to
respond to oil spills. The OPA also created the national
Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund,
which is
available to provide up to one billion dollars per spill
incident.
In addition, the OPA provided new requirements for
contingency planning
both by government and industry. The
National
Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP)
has been
expanded in a three-tiered approach: the Federal government is
required to
direct all public and private response efforts for certain types
of spill
events; Area Committees -- composed of federal, state, and local
government
officials -- must develop detailed, location-specific Area
Contingency Plans;
and owners or operators of vessels and certain facilities that
pose a serious
threat to the environment must prepare their own facility
response plans.
Finally, the OPA increased penalties for regulatory
noncompliance,
broadened the response and enforcement authorities of the Federal
government,
and preserved State authority to establish law governing oil
spill prevention
and response. |
