Two years following the Torrey Canyon spill, an oil platform eruption in the Santa Barbara Channel made national headlines and thrust oil pollution into the public spot light. As a result, in 1970, Congress placed oil pollution under the authority of the Federal Water Pollution Act (FWPA) of 1965, which later became the Clean Water Act of 1972 and had previously only covered sewage and Industrial discharge. The FWPA set specific liability limitations. For example, vessels transporting oil were liable only up to $250,000 or $150 per gross ton. These limitations rarely covered the cost of removal and cleanup, let alone damages.