94
Opinion of the Court
Justice Kennedy delivered the opinion of the Court.
The maritime oil transport industry presents ever-present, all too real dangers of oil spills from tanker ships, spills which could be catastrophes for the marine environment. After the supertanker Torrey Canyon spilled its cargo of 120,000 tons of crude oil off the coast of Cornwall, England, in 1967, both Congress and the State of Washington enacted more stringent regulations for these tankers and provided for more comprehensive remedies in the event of an oil spill. The ensuing question of federal pre-emption of the State's laws was addressed by the Court in Ray v. Atlantic Rich-field Co., 435 U. S. 151 (1978).
In 1989, the supertanker Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and its cargo of more than 53 million gallons of crude oil caused the largest oil spill in United States history. Again, both Congress and the State of Washington responded. Congress enacted new statutory provisions, and Washington adopted regulations governing tanker operations and design. Today we must determine whether these more recent state laws can stand despite the comprehensive federal regulatory scheme governing oil tankers. Relying on the same federal statute that controlled the analysis in Ray, we hold that some of the State's regulations are pre-empted; as to the balance of the regulations, we remand the case so their validity may be assessed in light of the considerable federal interest at stake and in conformity with the principles we now discuss.
E. Vedder; and for the Steamship Association of Southern California by David E. R. Woolley and Thomas A. Russell.
Briefs of amici curiae were filed for the Government of Canada by Margaret K. Pfeiffer; for the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen's Associations et al. by Bryan P. Coluccio; for the Pacific Merchant Shipping Association by Sam D. Delich and James B. Nebel; for the Prince William Sound Regional Citizens' Advisory Council by Avrum M. Gross and Susan A. Burke; and for the Puget Sound Steamship Operators Association et al. by Richard W. Buchanan and Robert W. Nolting.
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