Title: California Coastal Commission
Headings: 
Why is oil harmful to the environment?
What is the government doing to prevent oil spills?
What can you do to protect the Bay and the ocean?
Classroom activities about oil spills
Oil Spill Glossary

Content: Many other animals were likely affected but not recovered. Dolphin health was still being impacted years after the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion that spilled more than 130 million gallons into Gulf of Mexico waters. More information on the effects of oil on wildlife: International Bird Rescue Research Center
Oiled Wildlife Care Network
NOAA Office of Response and Restoration
What is the government doing to prevent oil spills? After the large Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska in 1989, both the United States and California governments enacted laws to help prevent oil spills. The International Safety Management Code, enforced since 1998, requires ships entering U.S. ports to meet certain standards, including procedures for reporting accidents and requiring qualified crew. In 1990, the U.S. enacted the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). One of the things OPA did was require that oil tankers be double-hulled, and requires the phase out of existing single-hull tankers. A double-hull further protects a ship from damage to its cargo tank, reducing the risk of oil spilling during an accident. California enacted the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Act in 1990, which established the Office of Oil Spill Prevention and Response within the Department of Fish and Game, which is authorized to direct spill response, cleanup, and natural resource damage assessment activities, as well as regulate all private vessels over 300 gross tons (672,000 pounds) that enter California ports.