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
Refugio oil spill years. Another new law provides for making oil spill response times faster and more effective. Finally, a new law will force intrastate pipelines to use the best-known technology such as automatic shut-off valves. The Pipeline Hazardous Material Safety Administration (PHMSA) is responsible for developing and enforcing regulations for pipeline operation transportation having been created in 2004 within the United States Department of Transportation. In the months following the spill, they found that the in-line inspection tool used by Plains in Line 901 and Line 903 had miscalculated the degree of corrosion. The company also withheld in-line inspection data so “it