Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90)
The US federal statute passed after the Exxon Valdez, which governs oil polluters' liability outside the international conventions.
The United States never ratified the international tanker pollution conventions and their compensation fund, and built its own regime after the Exxon Valdez spill. The statute makes the responsible party, owner or operator of the vessel or facility, strictly liable for cleanup costs and damages, within limits set by tonnage that fall away for gross negligence or breach of a safety rule. It requires every vessel entering US waters to carry a certificate of financial responsibility, creates a federal fund financed by a tax on oil and imposed double hulls on tankers. It also leaves states free to adopt stricter regimes, which makes exposure less predictable than under the conventions. For protection and indemnity clubs, US waters have remained the heaviest part of their pollution cover ever since.
On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez ran aground on Bligh Reef, Alaska, spilling about 11 million gallons of crude; the Act was signed into law on August 18, 1990, and on June 25, 2008, the Supreme Court cut punitive damages from 2.5 billion to about 507.5 million dollars.
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