Congress passed the Water Quality Improvement Act after major oil spills off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, in 1969. This 1970 act gave the U.S. government the authority to clean up disastrous oil spills. It stated that the polluter was responsible for up to $14 million dollars of the cost of the cleanup. If the U.S. government could prove that the polluter had caused the spill through willful negligence or misconduct, the polluter was responsible for the full cost of the cleanup. The act required that all federal agencies engaged in public works comply with the water quality standards of the act. It also required that builders of nuclear power plants comply with state water pollution standards.
