Second Circuit: Submerged Electrical Transmission Cable Is A "Facility" Under Oil Pollution Act

Highlights

• In a matter of first impression, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has ruled that an oil-filled submerged electrical transmission cable is a "facility" under the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA).
• In Power Authority of the State of New York v. M/V Ellen S. Bouchard, et. al., the court's decision turned on interpreting the OPA definition of "facility," and marked the first time this statutory term has been construed by an appellate court. The court held unanimously that the cable in question is an OPA "facility," and thus falls within the purview of the OPA liability scheme.
• The Second Circuit has now provided clarity as to the scope of the meaning of an OPA facility to include submerged electric cables and reaffirmed the intended remedial scope of the OPA statute.