Prestige oil spill causing great harm to the local fishing industry. The spill is the largest environmental disaster in the history of both Spain and Portugal. The amount of oil spilled was more than the "Exxon Valdez" incident and the toxicity considered higher, because of the higher water temperatures. In 2007 the Southern District of New York dismissed a 2003 lawsuit by the Kingdom of Spain against the American Bureau of Shipping, the international classification society which had certified the "Prestige" as in compliance with rules and laws, because ABS was a "person" per the International Convention on Civil Liability for Oil Pollution
Oil spill governance in the United States of new public management to oil spill governance is common in other aspects of environmental governance (e.g. climate change) in the U.S. and differs from the typical bureaucratic role of enforcement the federal government usually play. The governance process of oil spills relies on input from national, private and international institutions. To effectively implement response, prevention and cleanup procedures a number of public authorities were given responsibility under different jurisdictions. Since the 1970s the number of institutions governing oil spills has increased, indicating a steady shift from state led government approach to a broader and multi layered governance process. The