Pay if you have Spilled by Barbora Kasparova

Humans contribute to the devastation of the environment in many ways. There are things that we can predict (such as global warming or growing of waste material), yet there are accidents we do not anticipate such as oil spills. And since the nature can neither deal with them itself nor can sue the culprits for damages, as those who are responsible are not always willing to take the blame, there are ways people do it "in her name". A very recent case is the one of Cosco Busan oil spill earlier this November, when the company owning the ship Regal Stone Ltd. of Hong Kong, the insurer and the pilot of the ship are being sued by the U.S. federal government (http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/12/01/MN90TM5R4.DTL&hw=oil+spill&sn=006&sc=407). What's the legal side of the story, i.e. on what basis does the government in that particular case sue? We still remember the infamous Exxon Valdez case in 1989. In response to this catastrophic accident, the US Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act in 1990 (OPA 1990), which sets the framework for any lawsuits in the field. What it basically provides for is the liability of the owner, or the operator of the ship for removal costs and damages, in other words, anyone who feels that they suffered harm and were forced to incur costs due to the oil spill can go right ahead and sue the company. (http://www.itopf.com/spill%2Dcompensation/national%2Dregimes/)

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap_travel/20071130/ap_tr_ge/travel_brief_antarctica_ship_sinking;_ylt=AqVmQdsDgVP5HK5AuDh5sGCs0NUE

by Barbora Kasparova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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