On 24 March 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez, carrying over 1.2 million barrels of Alaskan North Slope crude oil, ran aground on Blight Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska, releasing nearly 240,000 barrels of oil into one of the world’s most pristine wilderness areas. The resulting environmental catastrophe signalled the beginning of a revolution in the system of oil spill response, compensation and liability in the United States in the form of the US Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90).2 Passage of OPA-90 was not immediate, however. It was nearly one and a half years since the casualty that OPA-90 was signed into law by President George Bush on 18 August 1990. In the intervening period, the Greek tanker World Prodigy grounded off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, spilling 10,000 barrels of home heating oil; the Uruguayan tanker Presidente Rivera ran aground in the Delaware River, spilling 2,000 barrels of fuel oil; these spills were followed by other serious oil spills, such as the American Trader incident in California and the Mega Borg spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Public and media reaction to these spills provided the final impetus for Congress to speed up the enactment of new and comprehensive oil pollution legislation.