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
Refugio oil spill the water. After struggling to find the leaking pipeline, workers located Line 901 where it had leaked and flowed into the storm culvert around 1:30pm. Clean-up efforts didn't begin for 16 to 18 hours. Company officials in Bakersfield who were responsible for notifying the National Response Center did not do so until 2:56pm. The Center, staffed by United States Coast Guard officers and marine science technicians, is the sole federal point of contact for reporting all hazardous substances releases and oil spills. An oil spill triggers mandatory federal notification requirements in a timely manner but company officials said they were