Exxon Valdez oil spill a number of recommendations, such as changes to the work patterns of Exxon crew in order to address the causes of the accident. In response to the spill, the United States Congress passed the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA). The legislation included a clause that prohibits any vessel that, after March 22, 1989, has caused an oil spill of more than in any marine area, from operating in Prince William Sound. In April 1998, the company argued in a legal action against the Federal government that the ship should be allowed back into Alaskan waters. Exxon claimed OPA was
History of the oil tanker engines, as opposed to the older steam engines. The "Vandal", the first diesel-electric ship, was capable of carrying 750 long tons of refined oil was powered by three diesel motors. The larger "Sarmat" employed four 180 h.p. engines. The first seagoing diesel-powered tanker, 4,500 ton "Mysl", was built by Nobel's competitors in Kolomna. Nobel responded with "Emanuel Nobel" and "Karl Hagelin", 4,600 long ton kerosene tankers with engines. The 475 ft., 7-masted schooner "Thomas W. Lawson", built in 1902, was the largest purely sail tanker ever built. It carried coal, and oil in barrels from Texas to the East Coast