subject: The Creation Of Opa 90 [print this page] The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, also know as OPA 90, became law in the eighth month of 1990. It was, at the time, the political response to the Exxon Valdez accident that happened on March 24, 1989. The ship ultimately spilled over 11 million gallons of crude oil into Prince William Sound in Alaska. OPA 90 provided the United States Government with extended power, provided for more readily available funds and resources and a number of other items designed to help speed the response to such disasters. Among these is the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund and these others listed below.
It provided that whomever is responsible for an oil spill would be responsible for the ship or rig from which it was spilled. It made this entity liable both for damages and removal costs required for a proper cleanup. It also allowed this entity to effort to prove liability belongs with some other third party and that this third party would then be held accountable and thus responsible for the cleanup of the spill.
It said that any vessels and deep water ports would be liable for the maximum, and that and offshore facility would be required to show the ability to shoulder a financial responsibility of a maximum of 150 million dollars.
It gives the States the power to enforce the provision of proof for financial responsibility and also grants them access to government money for immediate removal wherever and whenever appropriate up to 250 thousand dollars.
The bill also makes provisions for extensive fines that can be as little as 10 thousand dollars or as much as half a million dollars for a business. It also provisions for the possibility of jail time. Violators can receive anywhere from 5 to 15 years in prison as a result of guidelines from OPA 90.
Many might say that OPA 90 has done little to help prevent reckless practices by big oil, both by shipping and by drilling. Certainly there have been a number of spills since the OPA was signed in to law, and so naturally the critics of both the OPA and big oil continue to lobby for more.
Many US Senators have come together and penned what is knows as the Big Oil Bail Out Prevention Plan as a direct response to the most recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. This bill would potentially increase the economic responsibility of big oil for the economic aspect of such a disaster to 1 billion dollars, which is far greater than the 75 million currently provided by OPA 90. This bill appears to have wide political support, and even the President appears to be on board and politicians are eager to increase the provisions of OPA 90 by enforcing tougher restrictions on drilling and levying much heavier fines with such a large environmental catastrophe occurs.
One thing is likely, and that is the battle between environmentalists and big oil is far from over, and as each spill seems to bring tragedy to a new part of the world, the number of people that support the effort to stick it to the big oil companies appears to be on the rise. OPA 90 may prove to have only been the beginning.
