Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
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UNITED STATES v. LOCKE

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 con-
trolled the analysis in Ray, we hold that some of the State’s
regulations are pre-empted; as to the balance of the regula-
tions, 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 Mar-
garet K. Pfeiffer; for the Paciﬁc Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associa-
tions et al. by Bryan P. Coluccio; for the Paciﬁc Merchant Shipping Asso-
ciation 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.