United States v. American Commercial Lines, L.L.C.

STEPHEN A. HIGGINSON, Circuit Judge:

On July 23, 2008, nearly 300,000 gallons .of oil spilled into the Mississippi River when a tugboat veered across the river, putting the oil-filled-barge it towed into the path of an ocean-going tanker. The tugboat, the M/V MEL OLIVER, was owned by American Commercial Lines (“ACL”) but .operated by DRD Towing Company pursuant to a contractual agreement between the'companies. As the statutorily-defined responsible party under the Oil Pollution Act (“OPA”), ACL incurred approximately $70 million in removal costs and damages. The United States also incurred…