Court Cuts $5 Billion Fine for ExxonMobil’s Role in the 1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill
ExxonMobil received an early Christmas present Friday
when a federal appeals court reduced a $5 billion fine for punitive damages
relating to the company’s role in the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill.
“It’s outrageous that ExxonMobil, the most profitable
oil company in the world, is getting a break in penalties for the largest oil
spill in history,” said Zack Brown, Environment North Carolina's representative on preservation issues in Washington, D.C.
“Prince William Sound is still feeling the
negative impacts of this tragedy nearly 18 years later, while ExxonMobil is
bringing record profits.”
On March 24, 1989, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez, carrying
more than 50 million gallons of North Slope crude oil, ran aground and ruptured
in Alaska's Prince William
Sound. Approximately 11 million gallons of crude oil poured into the
Prince William Sound in less than five hours.
By August 1989, the oil had moved across nearly 10,000 square miles of water in
Prince William Sound and the Gulf of
Alaska.
Prince William Sound has yet to fully recover from the
Valdez oil
spill. In 2002, the Exxon Valdez Trustee Council (formed to oversee restoration
of the injured ecosystem) reported that populations of six different animals -
the common loon, cormorants (three species), harbor seal, harlequin duck,
pacific herring, and pigeon guillemot - had shown little or no improvement since
the spill injuries occurred. In addition, the Council concluded that as of 2002
"residents, fishermen, and the tourism/recreation industry have not fully
recovered" from the oil spill.
“Exxon’s environmental record should have earned them a
lump of coal in their stocking,” said Brown. “Instead, they’re getting a sweet
deal.”
