What US Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 USC ch 40): Responsible-Party Liability, Limits and Financial Responsibility requires
The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA), codified at 33 U.S.C. Chapter 40 (sections 2701-2762), establishes a comprehensive federal regime of liability and compensation for discharges of oil into navigable waters, adjoining shorelines and the exclusive economic zone, administered primarily by the US Coast Guard (through the National Pollution Funds Center) and the US Environmental Protection Agency. Section 2701 defines the regulated terms, including 'oil', 'vessel', 'facility', 'discharge', 'responsible party' and 'damages'. Section 2702 sets the elements of liability: each responsible party for a vessel or a facility from which oil is discharged, or which poses a substantial threat of a discharge, into or upon navigable waters, adjoining shorelines or the exclusive economic zone is liable for the removal costs and damages that result; the recoverable damages include damages for injury to, destruction of, loss of, or loss of use of natural resources, real or personal property, subsistence use, lost government revenues, lost profits and earning capacity, and the cost of providing increased public services. Section 2703 provides the limited complete defenses (act of God, act of war and certain third-party acts). Section 2704 sets the per-incident limits on liability, which vary by vessel and facility type; under section 2704(c) those limits do not apply where the incident was proximately caused by the gross negligence or willful misconduct of, or the violation of an applicable federal safety, construction or operating regulation by, the responsible party, or where the responsible party fails to report the incident or to cooperate with removal. Section 2706 governs natural resource damage assessment by trustees, section 2712 governs uses of the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, section 2713 sets the claims-presentation procedure, and section 2716 requires responsible parties to establish and maintain evidence of financial responsibility sufficient to meet the applicable liability limits.
Pillar: Water & Environmental Resources · Authority: US Congress / US Coast Guard (National Pollution Funds Center) and US Environmental Protection Agency · Version: 1.0.0 · Last updated:
Primary source: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/USCODE-2022-title33/html/USCODE-2022-title33-chap40.htm
SHA-256 integrity: 318b6ee710c888c1b498a5456c1bbcd4ffea8108e4da175346f31884fe887e8f
Primary Citations — 8 traced to source
- Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. 2701 - definitions, including oil, discharge, vessel, facility and responsible party.
- Oil Pollution Act of 1990, 33 U.S.C. 2702 - elements of liability (responsible party liable for removal costs and enumerated categories of damages).
+ 6 more citations (full bibliography, deterministic workflow, actionable schema and crosswalks) included in the vault unlock — $0.01 via Skyfire / L402 / Direct Base USDC.
Access
- Discovery (free): /api/v1/nodes/us-oil-pollution-act-1990.json — 6-field metadata
- Vault (full node): /api/v1/vault/nodes/us-oil-pollution-act-1990.json — full 13-key payload, $0.01 USDC (L402/Skyfire/Direct Base)
- Canonical URL: https://bidda.com/intelligence/us-oil-pollution-act-1990
- Back to registry: Browse all 10,090 compliance nodes