ABSTRACT
Oil spills can be the most dramatic and salient environmental disasters. Beginning in 1970, Congress successfully passed a series of important laws extending and refining the policy for oil spills. In 1974, Congress passed the Deepwater Port Act, once again imposing strict liability and creating a Deepwater Port Liability Fund via fees collected by port licensees on oil. The rapid expansion of deepwater drilling was undoubtedly accelerated by public policy. In the area of oil spill policy, risk reduction strategies have been an important part of the instrument mix. In 1973, Congress passed the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Authorization Act, imposing strict liability on pipeline operators and tankers transporting the oil. More importantly, Congress designed a system for the identification and prioritization of hazardous waste sites, assessing the liability for responsible parties, and financing remediation. The problems of funding remediation were more complicated with Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) than with the kinds of damages created by oil spills.
