North Cape oil spill recovered in the weeks following the spill. US federal and Rhode Island state governments undertook considerable work to clean up the spill and restore lost fishery stocks and coastal marine habitat. The "North Cape" oil spill is considered a significant legal precedent in that it was the first major oil spill in the continental U.S. after the passage of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, resulting from the "Exxon Valdez" oil spill in Alaska on March 24, 1989. Of the many affected communities, one important habitat was the Trustom Pond National Wildlife Refuge. The refuge is nearly 800 acres in
North Cape oil spill effective. Several organizations worked together to create a restoration plan following the spill. The primary organizations involved were the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management, and the United States Coast Guard. Captain Patrick A. Turlo was the commander on science for the Coast Guard. This was the first oil spill whose damages were to be assessed by the new federal regulations of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, a law designed to compensate the public for losses resulting from an oil spill. Projects included restocking wildlife populations