Comment by Robert Taylor Lemon II
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (FWPCA), which amended the Water Quality Improvement Act of 1970 (WQIA), was created to provide a national policy for the prevention, control, and abatement of water pollution and to restore the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the waters of the United States. It is apparent that the pollution of our nation's navigable waters and coastlines can have serious consequences; oil spills resulting from tanker collisions, groundings, and discharges often result in disastrous environmental degradation and property damage. In the wake of such maritime disasters, the courts have allowed the use of both statutory and non-statutory remedies to abate the devastating effects of oil pollution.
In addition to environmental damage, another serious effect of oil spills is the catastrophic costs involved in effecting oil pollution cleanup. Through the enactment of the FWPCA, Congress has provided a comprehensive plan designed to expedite oil pollution cleanup and to establish a workable scheme for limiting and distributing liability for oil spill cleanup costs. In particular, paragraphs (c)(1), (d), and (f)(1) to (3) of section 311 of the Act provide that the federal government effect cleanup operations following an oil spill and thereafter seek reimbursement from the defendant-polluter, subject to the liability limits of the Act, for the costs incurred.
Although other statutory and non-statutory remedies exist concurrently with the FWPCA to abate oil pollution and to remedy consequent property damage, this comment seeks to show that in actions brought by the federal government for reimbursement of its cleanup costs, the federal government's exclusive remedy is set forth in, and limited by, the FWPCA. Although nowhere in the FWPCA has Congress expressly provided that the Act is the exclusive ground on which the United States may seek recovery of oil pollution cleanup costs, an examination of the FWPCA's legislative history, an analysis of the statute's provisions and legislative character, and an inquiry into the existing relevant case law indicate that the FWPCA is the federal government's exclusive basis for recovery.
About the Author
Robert Taylor Lemon II.
Citation
53 Tul. L. Rev. 1421 (1979)