Under the 1990 Oil Pollution Act, passed a year after the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska, the company [BP] is required to foot the bill for the cleanup.
via www.cnn.com
But BP's obligations will go well beyond cleanup: The Oil Pollution Act (OPA) of 1990 was passed in the wake of the Exxon Valdez oil spill. The statute addresses oil pollution and establishes liability for the discharge and substantial threat of a discharge of oil to navigable U.S. waters and shorelines. A major goal of OPA is to restore natural resources that are injured and services that are lost as a result of oil spills. Responsibility for acting on behalf of the public lies with designated Federal, state, tribal, and foreign natural resource trustees. OPA directs trustees to (1) return injured natural resources and services to the condition they would have been in if the incident had not occurred, and (2) recover compensation for interim losses of such natural resources and services through the restoration, rehabilitation, replacement, or acquisition of equivalent natural resources or services.