Title: Oil Pollution Act of 1990
Headings: United States Coast Guard
Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA)
OPA Overview
Title I of OPA
NPFC Created to Implement OPA, Title I

Content: OPA Overview
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 ( 33 U.S.C. 2701-2761) amended the Clean Water Act and addressed the wide range of problems associated with preventing, responding to, and paying for oil pollution incidents in navigable waters of the United States. It created a comprehensive prevention, response, liability, and compensation regime to deal with vessel- and facility-caused oil pollution to U.S. navigable waters. OPA greatly increased federal oversight of maritime oil transportation, while providing greater environmental safeguards by: Setting new requirements for vessel construction and crew licensing and manning,
Mandating contingency planning,
Enhancing federal response capability,
Broadening enforcement authority,
Increasing penalties,
Creating new research and development programs,
Increasing potential liabilities, and
Significantly broadening financial responsibility requirements. Title I of OPA
Title I of OPA established new and higher liability limits for oil spills, with commensurate changes to financial responsibility requirements. It substantially broadened the scope of damages, including natural resource damages (NRDs), for which polluters are liable. It also authorized the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund (OSLTF) up to $1 billion to pay for expeditious oil removal and uncompensated damagesup to $1 billion per incident. The Delaware River Protection Act of 2006, title VI of the Coast Guard and Maritime Transportation Act of 2006, increased the limits of liability. NPFC Created to Implement OPA, Title I
OSLTF administration was delegated to the U.S. Coast Guard by Executive Order; and on February 20, 1991, the National Pollution Funds Center (NPFC) was commissioned to: