Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act
The Increasing Penalties for Offshore Polluters Act would strengthen the enforcement framework for oil spills by heavily increasing both civil and criminal penalties under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (the Clean Water Act). The bill retains the goal of holding polluters accountable for offshore oil spills but shifts civil penalties to a floor-based structure and dramatically raises criminal penalties across three tiers of violations. In practical terms, this action is intended to deter offshore spills by making penalties more severe for corporations, owners, operators, and individuals responsible for oil spill incidents, and by expanding potential consequences for continuing violations and repeat offenses. Key changes include: (1) civil penalties that move from caps toward minimums (the text uses language indicating penalties must be “at least” certain amounts), and (2) substantial increases to criminal penalties, including higher base fines, longer potential prison terms, larger per-day penalties, and doubling of maximum punishments in several categories. The overall effect is to bolster deterrence and enforcement against offshore oil pollution.
Key Points
- 1Civil penalties for oil spills would be amended to replace “an amount up to” and “not more than” with language indicating penalties must be at least certain minimums, effectively creating floors for civil penalties per violation and per day of violation.
- 2Criminal penalties are markedly increased across three tiers:
- 3- Tier 1: Base fines increase from $2,500 to $5,000; statutory maximum fines increase from $25,000 to $50,000; maximum imprisonment increases from 1 year to 2 years; per-day penalties and other existing structures would be replaced with rules that double the maximum punishment for both fines and imprisonment.
- 4- Tier 2: Minimum fines increase from $5,000 to $10,000; base fines increase from $50,000 to $100,000; maximum imprisonment increases from 3 years to 6 years; per-day penalties would be replaced with a framework that doubles the maximum punishment for fines and imprisonment.
- 5- Tier 3: Fines increase from $250,000 to $500,000; maximum imprisonment increases from 15 years to 30 years; penalties per day (up to $1,000,000 per day) replaced with a framework that doubles the maximum punishment for fines and imprisonment.
- 6The bill’s title and text emphasize strengthening penalties to deter offshore oil polluters and to better reflect the harm and risk associated with oil spills.
- 7The changes apply to civil and criminal penalties under the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (the Clean Water Act), with enforcement potential by agencies such as the EPA, the U.S. Coast Guard, and the Department of Justice.