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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, U.S. PIRG Preservation Associate. “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.”
