The “polluter pays” concept in the US applies not only to liability and damages resulting from a pollution incident, but also to the response and removal activities following a spill of oil or release of a hazardous substance. The federal government, however, maintains an active role in the direction and oversight of the response and may take over the clean-up if the responsible party’s efforts prove to be unsatisfactory. The impetus for a national response system in which federal and state governments would become key players in a pollution incident came as a result of the Torrey Canyon incident and culminated in the issuance of the first National Multiagency Oil and Hazardous Materials Contingency Plan in 1968. The Plan underwent a number of amendments following the passage of the Clean Water Act and CERCLA.