Coast Guard

Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund Not Being Used to Pay All Allowable Costs Gao ID: RCED-91-204 August 12, 1991

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reported on the: (1) Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund's receipts and disbursements as of March 31, 1991; and (2) status of activities under way to fully implement Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA) provisions regarding the fund.

GAO found that: (1) as of March 31, 1991, the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund had reached more than half of its $1-billion limit and the Coast Guard had disbursed $14.3 million from the fund; (2) the Coast Guard has not made payments from the fund for costs other than federal spill removal costs because the executive order delegating authority for implementing other aspects of the fund had not been issued as of July 15, 1991; (3) federal agencies involved in oil spill removal may not be reimbursed for all allowable removal costs because the procedures the Coast Guard is using until it develops new regulations do not allow full response cost payments allowed under OPA; (4) the Coast Guard has not taken any steps, such as implementing interim regulations, to allow agencies reimbursement for their nonincremental costs; and (5) Coast Guard procedures do not provide adequate guidance on federal oil spill removal activities or cost calculations.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

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