Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/boundvolumes/529bv.pdf
Page Number: 180

529US1

Unit: $U35

[09-26-01 09:32:43] PAGES PGT: OPIN

Cite as: 529 U. S. 89 (2000)

105

Opinion of the Court

“(1) to impose additional

liability or additional

requirements

.

.

.
“relating to the discharge, or substantial threat of a
33 U. S. C. § 2718.
discharge, of oil.”

.

.

The Court of Appeals placed more weight on the saving
clauses than those provisions can bear, either from a textual
standpoint or from a consideration of the whole federal regu-
latory scheme of which OPA is but a part.

The saving clauses are found in Title I of OPA, captioned
Oil Pollution Liability and Compensation and creating a lia-
bility scheme for oil pollution.
In contrast to the Washing-
ton rules at issue here, Title I does not regulate vessel opera-
tion, design, or manning. Placement of the saving clauses
in Title I of OPA suggests that Congress intended to pre-
serve state laws of a scope similar to the matters contained
in Title I of OPA, not all state laws similar to the matters
covered by the whole of OPA or to the whole subject of mari-
time oil transport. The evident purpose of the saving
clauses is to preserve state laws which, rather than imposing
substantive regulation of a vessel’s primary conduct, estab-
lish liability rules and ﬁnancial requirements relating to oil
spills. See Gutierrez v. Ada, 528 U. S. 250, 255 (2000) (words
of a statute should be interpreted consistent with their
neighbors to avoid giving unintended breadth to an Act of
Congress).

Our conclusion is fortiﬁed by Congress’ decision to limit
the saving clauses by the same key words it used in declaring
the scope of Title I of OPA. Title I of OPA permits recovery
of damages involving vessels “from which oil is discharged,
or which pos[e] the substantial threat of a discharge of oil.”
33 U. S. C. § 2702(a). The saving clauses, in parallel manner,
permit States to impose liability or requirements “relating
to the discharge, or substantial threat of a discharge, of oil.”
§ 2718(c).
In its titles following Title I, OPA addresses mat-
ters including licensing and certiﬁcates of registry, 104 Stat.