On March 24, 1989, the Exxon Valdez spilled over 11 million gallons of Alaskan crude into the water of Prince William Sound. There were many lessons learned in the aftermath of the Valdez oil spill. Two of the most obvious were:

• The United States lacked adequate resources, particularly Federal funds, to respond to spills, and
• The scope of damages compensable under federal law to those impacted by a spill was fairly narrow.

Although the environmental damage and massive cleanup efforts were the most visible effects of this casualty, one of the most important outcomes was the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA-90), which addressed both these deficiencies.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (33 U.S.C. 2701-2761) amended the Clean Water Act and addressed the wide range of problems associated with preventing, responding to, and paying for oil pollution incidents in navigable waters of the United States. It created a comprehensive prevention, response, liability, and compensation regime to deal with vessel- and facility-caused oil pollution to U.S. navigable waters. The Act has numerous provisions, including specific requirements for those engaged in the handling, storage, and transport of oil and petroleum products to "ensure by contract … private personnel and equipment necessary to remove to the maximum extent practicable a worst-case discharge."

The oil and shipping industries acted to provide such capability by supporting the formation of the Marine Preservation Association (MPA) and the Marine Spill Response Corporation (MSRC). MPA, whose membership consists of companies engaged in the business of petroleum exploration and production, refining and marketing, transportation and shipping, provides steady funding to MSRC in furtherance of the objectives of OPA-90 and the recognition by MPA's members of the importance of a high quality, dedicated spill response capability.

Dynamic Aviation, under contract to MSRC, provides 24/7/365 response capability. Our aircraft and crews remain ever vigilant and prepared to respond to an oil spill with a King Air equipped with a dispersant delivery system capable of both spraying dispersant on the spill and/or serving as a spotter aircraft.