Apr. 3, 1998 A call for help in deciding whether US Oil Pollution Act of 1990- mandated caps on tanker owners' on-water oil removal capacity should be increased or decreased has been made by the US Coast Guard to the maritime industry and related interests.
Established in 1993, the statutory caps were to have risen by 25 % on February 18 this year. They have not been increased, however, as the Coast Guard had not completed its OPA90-required review of the original caps and determination of whether the 25 % increase was practicable.
The Coast Guard emphasised that increasing the overall oil spill response capability in the US was "one important goal" of the US Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which it sought to achieve by developing minimum on-water oil removal capacities.
In order to achieve an increase of overall oil spill response capability in the US, as required by OPA90, the Coast Guard set the maximum capacities that shipowners and operators must ensure will be available, via contract or other approved means, in a "worst-case" oil discharge from tankers transporting or trans-ferrying Groups I to IV petroleum oil.
The Coast Guard, which emphasised that "these caps were established taking into account 1993 technology and availability of response resources," said it had four key reasons for setting them at current levels:
- In many US geographic areas, on-water recovery capability and containment and protection resources simply did not exist for responding to a large spill, especially from a VLCC or ULCC.
- The Coast Guard believed that Congress intended to encourage development and enlargement of the response community, but not to cause significant, adverse economic impacts. USCG, therefore, set a national criterion, rather than geographic-specific criteria as an incentive to improve overall response capability in the US.
- Caps acknowledged a reasonable and practical limit to the amount of 1993 technology resources that could be constructively used during a spill responses first stages.
- The Coast Guard intended that the caps would ensure a baseline recovery capability, and would not limit the resources brought to bear during an actual oil discharge.

"Owners or operators were, and still are, expected to activate the response resources necessary for the particular circumstances of any spill, regardless of what has been contracted for in advance," the Coast Guard said. Now, however it believed "that in certain geographic areas, existing response capabilities already exceed the 1998 proposed cap. Several states have enacted requirements that meet, or exceed the 1998 caps. However, the Coast Guard understands that in other regions [OPA90 Vessel Response] Planholders may have great difficulty in meeting the 1998 increase."
"Additionally, the Coast Guard believes that since 1993, significant advances have occurred in the use and availability of high rate response techniques and technology within the US. The Coast Guard intends to take into account these factors when re-assessing the 1998 cap."