Title: Oil spills | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Headings: Oil spills
Oil spills
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What is oil?
How do oil spills happen?
Where do oil spills happen?
How do oil spills harm or kill ocean life?
Who cleans up an oil spill — and how?
Who pays for oil spill cleanup and restoration?
How does NOAA help after an oil spill?
What are the largest marine oil spills in American history?
EDUCATION CONNECTION
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Content: Sensitive habitats need extra consideration during oil spill cleanup. Who pays for oil spill cleanup and restoration? The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 established (among other things) that those responsible for oil spills can be held responsible to pay for cleanup and restoration. This process of assessing the impacts of a spill and reaching a settlement to fund restoration projects is called Natural Resource Damage Assessment (NRDA). Federal, state, and tribal agencies work together with the party responsible for the oil spill throughout NRDA and select restoration projects with help from the public. Working with partners from state, tribal, and federal agencies and industry, NOAA helps to recover funds from the parties responsible for the oil spill, usually through legal settlements. Over the last 30 years, NOAA has helped recover over $9 billion from those responsible for the oil spill to restore the ocean and Great Lakes. Keystone species arctic cod extremely sensitive to oil exposure
Vessel traffic and oil development have increased in the Arctic in response to warming oceans and declining sea ice. Anywhere oil is collected, transported, or refined there is a risk of oil spills. As ship traffic and oil development increase in the Arctic, the risk of oil spills also increases.