United States v. Bear Marine Services

ARCENEAUX, District Judge.

Exerting a purely maritime claim, the United States seeks to recover oil clean-up costs from International Matex Tank Terminal (“IMTT”). The costs were incurred when a barge, in the tow of the Tug Frances Twitty and owned by Bear Marine Services, was holed when it struck a dolphin owned by IMTT. IMTT moved to dismiss the claim, asserting the exclusivity of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended by the Water and Environmental Quality Improvement Act of 1970, P.L. 224 of the 91st Congress, 84 Stat. 91, amended and recodified at 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251-1376…