An orca pod faces extinction. Marine sediments are still soaked in oil. The herring stock in Alaska’s Prince William Sound has collapsed. And the paltry amount of money Exxon paid to fishermen there isn’t making up for ruined lives and livelihoods.

It just doesn’t seem possible to “celebrate” 11 million gallons of oil spilled into prime fishing waters.

Here are a couple of things we actually can celebrate.

First, let’s acknowledge the Oil Pollution Act of 1990, which Congress passed a year after Exxon’s hideous accident. The act requires oil tankers and barges to be double hulled by 2015. That requirement kept the Gulf of Mexico safe during two recent incidents. Unfortunately, Exxon is currently the only U.S. oil company still sailing single-hulled tankers on the west coast.

Second, Washington Governor Christine Gregoire signed legislation this very week that requires all commercial vessels over 300 gross tons calling on the Juan de Fuca Strait to contract with an emergency response tug boat in Neah Bay. Until now, public funds have kept the Neah Bay tug operating during the winter; it has aided 42 ships since 1999, preventing numerous new spills. With the governor’s signature, the responsibility for those operating funds shifts, appropriately, to the shipping industry itself. The tug will now operate year-round in one of the busiest commercial shipping lanes on the west coast.

With the support of other environmental groups and North West tribal governments led by the Makah tribe, Fred Felleman has worked on this issue for 20 years on behalf of the Friends of the Earth.