News & Analysis as of

Oil & Gas Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA 90)

Oliva Gibbs LLP

Lessons in Chemistry: SCOTUS Declines Review in OPA Case

Oliva Gibbs LLP on

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to hear an appeal addressing whether a mixture of petroleum and chemicals constitutes “oil” under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA). In doing so, the Court has effectively rejected the efforts of...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Environmental Law

Oil and Hazardous Substances; Never the Twain Shall Meet

Late last month, in Munoz v. Intercontinental Terminals Company, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals held that the liability provisions of CERCLA and the Oil Pollution Act do not overlap and that, consequently, where oil and...more

Goldberg Segalla

EPA Revises National Contingency Plan to Assist with Oil Spill Responses

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In 1990, Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act, also known as the OPA. The act was in response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989, and it amended the Clean Water Act of 1972. Its purpose was to avoid oil spills from...more

Robinson+Cole Environmental Law +

Court Denies Class Certification in Illinois Oil Spill Case

On October 5, 2021, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Illinois denied the plaintiffs’ Motion for Class Certification in Morr v. Plains All American Pipeline, LLC 2021 WL 4478660 (S.D. Illinois,...more

Wiley Rein LLP

CITGO Settles with Federal and State Natural Resource Trustees for Claims Arising from 2006 Oil Spill

Wiley Rein LLP on

US DOJ recently announced a settlement of federal and state natural resource damage (NRD) claims asserted by federal and state trustees under the Oil Pollution Act (OPA) and state law against CITGO Petroleum Corporation...more

White & Case LLP

EPA Approves Texas NPDES Oil and Gas Program Authorization

White & Case LLP on

On January 15, 2021, the US Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA) announced that it approved an application from the State of Texas to administer the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) program for...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Second Circuit: Submerged Electrical Transmission Cable Is a "Facility" Under Oil Pollution Act

Holland & Knight LLP on

In a matter of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that an oil-filled submerged electrical transmission cable is a "facility" under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). Power Authority...more

Cozen O'Connor

Submarine Power Transmission Cables Subject to OPA

Cozen O'Connor on

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently reversed a lower court decision that held that the release of thousands of gallons of oil from a submarine power-transmission cable into Long Island Sound was not...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Supreme Court's Landmark Decision Reaffirms Popular Form Safe Berth / Safe Port Clause

Holland & Knight LLP on

Negotiating a contract, a charter party in maritime parlance, is a balance of leverage and sometimes a leap of faith. Certain issues are more important to companies than others, and for those issues, the language of clauses...more

Blank Rome LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Issues Safe Berth Warranty Decision

Blank Rome LLP on

The final decision in the ATHOS I saga has recently been issued by the U.S. Supreme Court, upholding the decision of the U. S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to the effect that a plain reading of the language found in...more

Cozen O'Connor

U.S. Supreme Court Rules Safe Berth Clause is a Warranty

Cozen O'Connor on

On March 30, 2020, in Citgo Asphalt Refining Co. v. Fescati Shipping Co., Ltd., the U.S. Supreme Court held that, based on its specific wording, a charter party’s safe-berth clause constituted an express warranty of safety,...more

King & Spalding

The Safe Berth Clause: U.S. Supreme Court to Resolve Key Circuit Split

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Does a charterer that agrees to nominate a “safe berth” to load and discharge cargo guarantee the berth’s safety for the vessel? If you are litigating this issue in the U.S. courts within the Second and Third Circuits, the...more

Mitchell, Williams, Selig, Gates & Woodyard,...

Worst-Case Spill Regulations/Clean Water Act: Natural Resources Defense Council Law Suit Alleging U.S. Environmental Protection...

Three environmental organizations filed a Complaint for Declaratory and Injunctive Relief (“Complaint”) in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the United States Environmental...more

King & Spalding

Energy Newsletter - October 2018

King & Spalding on

Court Faults FERC in its Handling of ANR Storage Company’s Six Year Quest for Authorization to Charge Market-Based Rates for Natural Gas Storage Services - On September 21, 2018, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District...more

King & Spalding

U.S. Fifth Circuit Broadly Defines Vessel “Operator” Under the Oil Pollution Act

King & Spalding on

There are few questions more important in the context of oil spill liability than who constitutes a Responsible Party under the U.S.’s Oil Pollution Act (OPA). Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court to Consider Macondo Blowout Insurance Dispute

Gray Reed on

The 2012 Macondo Well blowout and Deepwater Horizon rig explosion gave rise to a slew of lawsuits. Our subject today is one of them. ...more

Baker Donelson

Unsmooth “Operator” – Fifth Circuit Holds Tug Owner Liable Under OPA as “Operator” of Non-Owned Dumb Oil Barge

Baker Donelson on

In an important decision of first impression construing the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (“OPA,” 33 U.S.C. §§2701 et seq.), the Fifth Circuit has held the owner and operator (“Nature’s Way”) of a “dominant mind” tugboat liable...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

Third Circuit Addresses Cleanup Cost Apportionment and Related Affirmative Defenses

On March 29, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit decided an important oil spill cost recovery case: In re Petition of Frescati Shipping Co., Ltd. v. Citgo Asphalt Refining Co., et al. It is a case concerning the...more

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP

Congress Expands the Oil Pollution Act to Reach Spills Originating Outside of the U.S.

The Foreign Spill Protection Act of 2017 amends the Oil Pollution Act and Clean Water Act to hold foreign-based offshore facilities liable for spills entering U.S. waters - New law establishes oil spill liability in the...more

Baker Donelson

Don’t Fall Asleep at the Helm- 5th Circuit Goes Broad on OPA Interpretation

Baker Donelson on

In two issues of first impression, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals read the complete defense provisions for oil spills under the Oil Pollution Act (“OPA”) to strictly construe the defenses and make them only very narrowly...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

Meaning of “In Connection With” and “Pursuant To” Under Oil Pollution Act A Question of First Impression in Fifth Circuit

On November 7, in U.S. v. American Commercial Lines, LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit affirmed the District Court’s ruling that American Commercial Lines (ACL), the owner of a tug boat whose contracted...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

U.S. Dodges OPA Claim But Must Defend Against Insurer’s Negligence Claims

On September 15, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit released a significant Oil Pollution Act (OPA) ruling. The case is Ironshore Specialty Insurance Company v. U.S., et al. The Court of Appeals affirmed the...more

Clark Hill PLC

Contribution Under the Oil Pollution Act

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The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a responsible party under the federal Oil Pollution Act (OPA) could seek contribution for cleanup costs—even though they may include purely economic damages—from a partially liable...more

Holland & Knight LLP

Fifth Circuit: Responsible Party Has Right to Recover Contribution from Others at Fault in Oil Spills

Holland & Knight LLP on

In a recent ruling dated June 9, 2017, In re: Complaint of Settoon Towing LLC, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit interpreted the statutory language of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) to grant the responsible...more

K&L Gates LLP

Fifth Circuit Clarifies Oil Spill Contribution Rules

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Maritime law is known for its “hoary” precedents from long ago. But in Settoon Towing v. Marquette Transportation Co., the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit rejected an aging principle of maritime law in...more

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