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Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill
On April 20, 2010, an event occurred in the Gulf of Mexico that changed the life of many of the citizens living near and around the area. The event would be known as the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which was triggered by an explosion on a Deepwater Horizon oil rig resulting “in the deaths of 11 workers and injuries to another 17 workers” (NIOSH, 2011). Millions of barrels of oil were believed to have leaked into the Gulf, damaging resources, causing health issues, and injuring wildlife.
The primary law, in the U.S., for companies conducting deepwater drilling is outlined in the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The OPA “establishes a framework that addresses the liability of responsible parties in connection with the discharge of oil into the navigable waters of the United States, adjoining shorelines, or the exclusive economic zone” (Nichols, 2010). The OPA limits certain liabilities of the responsible party when an incident occurs in the previous mentioned areas. The OPA is limited based on the type of vessel or facility involved in the incident and the quantity of oil displaced by a discharge.
Part of the OPA includes the claims for certain damages and removal costs. Claims for an incident must be presented directly to the responsible party, where the responsible party must pay appropriate claim within 90 days. If the responsible party fails to pay the claim during this timeframe, then the claimant can submit a claim directly to the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund or file a suit in court.
The OPA was not the initial protection for U.S. waters; initially, there was the Clean Water Act (CWA). When the OPA was established in 1990, it replaced the liability limitations in section 311 of the CWA. The newly established Act increased the liability “for tank vessels larger than 3,000 gross tons to $1,200 per gross

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