Business Law: The Oil Pollution Act

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1. The United States government and Congress have implemented various legislations in order to hopefully reduce oil spills and aid in the clean up, should an oil spill occur. The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) was signed into legislation in August 1990. The OPA improved the nation's ability to prevent and respond to oil spills by establishing provisions that expand the federal governments's ability, and provide the money and resources necessary, to respond to oil spills. The OPA also created the national Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, which is available to provide up to one billion dollars per spill incident. The OPA also implemented new requirements for contigency planning both by government and industry. The National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contigency Plan (NCP) has been expanded into a three-tiered approach: the Federal government is required to direct all public and private response efforts for certain types of spill events; Area Committees -- composed of federal, state, and local government officials -- must develop detailed, location-specific Area Contigency Plans; and owners or operators of vessels and certain facilities that pose a serious threat to the environment must prepare their own Facility Response Plans. Finally, the OPA increased penalties for regulatory noncompliance, broadened the response and enforcement authorities of the Federal government, and preserved State authority to establish law governing oil spill prevention and response. Another legislation that was implemented was the Clean Water Act, formerly known as Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which was emplented in 1948. In 1972 the act was reorganized and expanded, adding ammendments and changing it's name to the Clean Water Act(CWA).... ... middle of paper ... ...stomer service represenative. Also their signs disclaiming liablity for damges to vehicles state that if anyone has any questions or concerns about the car wash to please call their toll free number before utilizing their services, to avoid any damges. As a result, I have found that both of these companies have made individuals aware of the risks and situations that could occur by utilizing each of these different services. If one still chooses to continue with utilizing the dry cleaners or car wash, even after the risks have been brought to their attention, then yes they are accepting responsiblitiy should any damages to their personal property or belongings occur. Works Cited 1. http://www.epa.gov/oem/content/lawsregs/opaover.htm 2. http://www2.epa.gov/laws-regulations/summary-clean-water-act 3. http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/protection.cfm

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