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• 1 2016-04-23T09:04:12-07:00 Policies Created After the Spill 10 image_header 2016-05-04T14:46:43-07:00 After the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, there were a number of changes made that would affect the way oil spills are dealt with in the future. One of these changes, and one of the most important outcomes of the oil spill, was the enactment of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990. This act addressed the wide range of problems associated with preventing, responding to, and paying for oil pollution incidents in navigable waters in the U.S. The Oil Pollution Act set new requirements for vessel construction and crew licensing, mandatory contingency planning, enhanced federal response capability, broadened enforcement authority, increased penalties, created new research and development programs, increased potential liabilities, and significantly broadened financial responsibility requirements.
  
  Another result of the oil spill was that ships began to be built with double hulls. This way, if a ship were to scrape along a reef or some other damage was made to a ship, only the outer hull would be damaged. The inner hull containing the oil would remain intact, preventing the leakage of oil into the ocean. This is such a simple and easy solution that has prevented numerous amounts of oil spills.
  
  The last change to cleanup method efficiency was the improvement of skimming systems. Skimming systems can be used to recover oil floating on the ocean’s surface. The improvement of oil skimming systems allowed for a greater amount of oil to be taken out of the ocean at a quicker pace. These three things are a couple of the many changes that helped prevent oil spills, and improved the cleanup of oil spills today.