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Loss of Income Individuals and businesses impacted by the Gulf of Mexico oil spill resulting from the Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion are entitled to collect damages for loss of income and profits. Such damage claims are allowed under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. Commercial fishing, tourism, and even other oil drilling enterprises are just a few of the industries that have already taken, or are expected to take, an economic hit because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
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The Oil Pollution Act Under federal law, all of the owners or other parties responsible for a vessel or a facility which causes an oil spill are liable for the removal costs and damages caused by the spill. Federal law also provides for liability of third parties if it is shown that the act or omission on the part of the third party caused an oil spill.
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Ranks Among the Worst Offshore Drilling Disasters The Deepwater Horizon oil rig explosion now ranks among the worst offshore drilling disasters in recent U.S. history. After burning for more than 36 hours, the offshore rig sunk into the Gulf of Mexico. At the time of its collapse, 13,000 gallons of crude oil per hour was spilling into the sea. By the following day, an oil spill measuring 100 square miles was drifting northeast toward shore.
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Environmental Damage Beyond Recovery Thousands of miles of marshlands, sea-grass meadows and coral reefs — and the human industries they support — could be damaged beyond recovery. This is a worst-case scenario, and far from certain.
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The Oil Pollution Act

Rig-fire-oil-spill

Under federal law, all of the owners or other parties responsible for a vessel or a facility which causes an oil spill are liable for the removal costs and damages caused by the spill. Federal law also provides for liability of third parties if it is shown that the act or omission on the part of the third party caused an oil spill.

The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) was implemented in response to the Exxon Valdez disaster. 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 oil rig explosion lawyers at our firm have represented hundreds of people negatively impacted by such incidents, and our knowledge of OPA liability provisions and other applicable laws has allowed us to obtain the greatest possible compensation for our clients.

Under federal law, individuals can make the following oil spill damage claims:

Property Damage: Injury to or economic loss resulting from destruction of real property (land or buildings) or other personal property. Property damage claims can be made by people or entities that own or lease the damaged property. The costs of removing oil from your own property can also be included in property damage claims. Boat damage is included as a subset of property damage.

Loss of Profit and Earnings Capacity: Damages equal to the loss of profits or impairment of earning capacity due to the injury, destruction, or loss of property or natural resources. Anyone with loss of profits or income may make such a claim. You do not have to own the damaged property or resources to submit a claim under this category.

Loss of Subsistence Use of Natural Resources: These claims may be filed by individuals if natural resources you depend on for subsistence use purposes have been injured, destroyed, or lost by an oil spill incident. Again, you do not have to own or manage the natural resource to submit a claim under this category.

National Environmental Policies

The National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) was passed in 1970 along with the Environmental Quality Improvement Act, the National Environmental Education Act, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The main objective of these federal enactments was to assure that the environment be protected against both public and private actions that failed to take account of costs or harms inflicted on the eco-system.

The EPA is supposed to monitor and analyze the environment, conduct research, and work closely with state and local governments to devise pollution control policies. NEPA (really enacted in 1969) has been described as one of Congress's most far reaching environmental legislation ever passed. The basic purpose of NEPA is to force governmental agencies to consider the effects of their decisions on the environment.

State laws also reflect the same concerns and common law actions allow adversely affected property owners to seek a judicial remedy for environmental harms.

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