The Legislature of the United States Virgin Islands finds and declares:
That on March 24, 1989, an ocean-going oil tanker, the Exxon Valdez, struck a reef and spilled approximately 30,000 tons (216,000 barrels) of oil into Prince William Sound, Alaska, thereby extensively fouling the shoreline of Prince William Sound, and heralding the largest oil spill and cleanup activity in the history of the United States; That thousands of paid and volunteer individuals and community organizations immediately undertook to clean up the oil from the fouled shoreline of Prince William Sound, but that wildlife was adversely affected, and the Alaska fishery industry and the related economy of the Sound was damaged and may take years to recover; That other oil spills of a lesser magnitude have occurred following the Exxon Valdez spill, all of which have to an extent adversely affected the shorelines or waterways of the United States and its Territories; That in part as a response to the need to plan for and undertake a comprehensive response to catastrophic oil spills in United States waters, the Congress of the United States proposed, and the President signed into law on August 18, 1990, The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, (P.L. 101–380); a measure which on final passage garnered the unanimous votes of the House of Representatives (360–0) and the Senate (99–0); That the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 consolidated, on the Federal level, the laws pertaining to oil spill liability, prevention, preparedness and cleanup and affects vessels, oilrigs, oil terminals and businesses which transport, handle or store crude oil and petroleum products; That a principal feature of the Act is a Good Samaritan provision, or a limited responder immunity provision, which seeks to encourage persons, groups and organizations to respond to catastrophic oil spills in the cleanup effort by granting such persons limited immunity from liability for oil removal costs or damages arising from their response activities or missions; That the immunity granted by the Act is limited in scope in that it does not absolve responders for their acts or omissions which result in personal injury or wrongful death, or is caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct; That several states have adopted the federal responder limited immunity standard, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Maine, Mississippi, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Texas, Virginia and Washington. The legislation is also before several Governors and state legislatures for their consideration; That the Virgin Islands of the United States is a jurisdiction in which a catastrophic oil spill, unless responded to immediately, may have a devastating effect on the environment, wildlife and the economy of the Territory. Further, that the United States Virgin Islands’ geographic location in the Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea makes it particularly vulnerable to oil spills from local as well as external sources; That on March 6, 1991, the vessel, Vista Bella, sank in the Atlantic Ocean with its cargo of oil and petroleum products estimated at a half million gallons. That several days later, oil escaping from the vessel entered United States Virgin Islands territorial waters and fouled the coastlines of St. John, St. Thomas and St. Croix, as well as the coastlines of Vieques, Culebra, and southeast Puerto Rico, and the coastlines of other Caribbean island nations; That the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, the United States Coast Guard and other volunteer and responder organizations undertook to and cleaned up the oil spill from the beaches and coastline of the United States Virgin Islands. That the responders participated in the clean up activities without consideration of their potential liability for clean up costs, or for damages to person or property; That it is the sense of the Legislature that persons and responder organizations should be encouraged to assist in oil spill containment and cleanup activities in the United States Virgin Islands in the event of catastrophic oil spills which have the potential for adversely affecting the environment, ecology and economy of the Territory; That in order to encourage further the beneficial activities of oil spill responder groups and organizations, it is hereby declared to be the public policy of the Government of the United States Virgin Islands, that a limitation on the potential liability of such responders should be imposed by the adoption of the federal oil spill responder immunity standard as set forth in The Oil Pollution Act of 1990, at section 4201(a).
