§2702 Elements of liability

Summary

Owners or operators of a ship or a facility that spills oil, or that poses a serious risk of spilling oil into U.S. waters or along shorelines, must pay the costs to remove the oil and the damages that result. Removal costs include money spent by the United States, a State, or an Indian tribe under federal or state law (including certain high seas laws), and reasonable cleanup costs paid by private people who act in line with the National Contingency Plan. Damages include harm to natural resources (plus the cost to measure that harm), damage to or loss of real or personal property, loss of subsistence use of resources, lost taxes/royalties/rents/profits to governments, lost profits or earning ability for claimants, and extra public-service costs (like fire or safety protection) caused by the spill. Permitted discharges, spills from public vessels, and certain onshore Trans‑Alaska Pipeline facilities are excluded. If a spill was caused only by a third party (or by a third party together with an act of God or war), that third party can be treated as the responsible party; however, the owner/operator must still pay claimants first and may then seek recovery from the third party, whose liability is limited as the law describes.