John B. Breaux: “through the efforts of AWO and other organizations, the maritime transportation industry has achieved an outstanding…”

“through the efforts of AWO and other organizations, the maritime transportation industry has achieved an outstanding compliance record with the numerous laws and regulations enforced by the Coast Guard. Let me be clear: responsible carriers, and frankly their customers, have a ``zero tolerance'' policy for oil spills. For example, I am aware of a major marine transportation company headquartered in Louisiana that has a record of having performed over 5,300 liquid cargo transfer operations without spilling or contaminating any of the almost 2.8 billion gallons it transferred over a recent three year period. Additionally, the industry is taking spill response preparedness seriously. Industry representatives and operators routinely participate in Coast Guard oil spill crisis management courses, PREP Drills, and regional spill response drills. Yet despite all of the modernization, safety, and training efforts of the marine transportation industry, their mariners and shoreside employees cannot escape the threat of criminal liability in the event of an oil spill, even where it is shown that they ``took all reasonable precautions to avoid [a] discharge''. Mr. President, as you know, in response to the tragic Exxon Valdez spill, Congress enacted OPA90. OPA90 mandated new, comprehensive, and complex regulatory and enforcement requirements for the transportation of oil products and for oil spill response.”