On August 18, 1990, President Bush signed into law the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 (OPA),¹ the most comprehensive federal legislation ever dealing with oil spill liability, compensation, prevention, response, and research. Nowhere in the statute will you find the word "federalize";² read between the lines and into the legislative history, however, and you will discover federalization is a major theme throughout the law.

The same holds true for the nation's primary laws for wetlands regulation and hazardous waste site cleanup. Neither §404 of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act,³ addressing wetlands, nor the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA, also known as Superfund)⁴ addressing cleanup of hazardous substances, includes the term "federalize." But, each statute does just that: federalize the nation's response to wetlands protection and waste site contamination.