ABSTRACT
The Exxon Valdez spill emphasized, in glaring fashion, the need for improvements in spill prevention and preparedness. Just as importantly, postspill assessments called attention to inadequacies in existing federal oil pollution control statutes. Matters of acceptable spill prevention, liability, and compensation mechanisms had languished for decades within the confines of a few select congressional subcommittees. It was not until the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90) (Oil Pollution Act, 1990) that a substantially rewritten change occurred. This analysis seeks to answer a single question: What factors contributed to the dramatically altered statute evidenced in the passage of OPA 90?
