Following the '' Exxon Valdez '' spill , the United States passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ( OPA-90 ) , which included a stipulation that all tankers entering its waters be double-hulled by 2015 . Following the sinkings of '' Erika '' ( 1999 ) and '' Prestige '' ( 2002 ) , the European Union passed its own stringent anti-pollution packages ( known as Erika I , II , and III ) , which require all tankers entering its waters to be double-hulled by 2010 . The Erika packages are controversial because they introduced the new legal concept of " serious negligence "
Prestige
Prestige oil spill
Ship