The American Waterways Operators (AWO) hailed a decision by the U.S. District Court, Massachusetts District, to recommend summary judgment against a 2004 Massachusetts oil spill statute. The decision was issued on July 29 by U.S. Magistrate Judge Leo Sorokin. A lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice challenged the constitutionality of the law, which was enacted in response to a 2003 accidental tank barge oil spill in Buzzards Bay. The Department of Justice lawsuit asserted that the Massachusetts oil spill law tried to make law in areas that are reserved exclusively to the Federal Government, specifically the U.S. Coast Guard. In 2006, the District Court affirmed the position of the U.S.