Court Rewards Exxon for Valdez Oil Spill, by Greg Palast

[Echo In Light]

Court Rewards Exxon for Valdez Oil Spill
by Greg Palast

Chicago Tribune (revised)

Twenty years after Exxon Valdez slimed over one thousand miles of Alaskan beaches, the company has yet to pay the $5 billion in punitive damages awarded by the jury. And now they won't have to. The Supreme Court today cut Exxon's liability by 90% to half a billion. It's so cheap, it's like a permit to spill.

Exxon knew this would happen. Right after the spill, I was brought to Alaska by the Natives whose Prince William Sound islands, livelihoods, and their food source was contaminated by Exxon crude. My assignment: to investigate oil company frauds that led to to the disaster. There were plenty.

http://www3.gregpalast.com/court-rewards-exxon-for-valdez-oil-spill/

[Echo In Light]

1. Bump

[Richard Steele]

2. GRRRecommended.

[Earth_First]

3. The $2.5B punative damages award would have hardly put a dent in their $40B USD profits in 2007...

this was truely a giveaway which guarantees that corruption and disasters will continue well into the future.

[Blue_In_AK]

4. This was a hideous decision

and almost everybody up here is furious, whether or not they had a monetary stake in the outcome. Prince William Sound was one of the most beautiful, pristine places you would ever want to see in your life. Now, while on the surface things don't look too bad, if you turn over any rock in many places, the oil is still there. The fishermen have never fully recovered from the devastation to their lifestyle and livelihoods. Exxon has been a thorn in Alaska's side in a lot of other ways besides the spill, which I won't go into here, but many of us wouldn't be too sad to see them pick up their marbles and go home.

The only good that may come of it is that Alaskans finally seem to be waking up to the fact that the Republicans have stacked the deck against the ordinary people. Couple this decision with the VECO corruption trials and convictions, and the investigations of Ted Stevens and Don Young, and we may get some Democratic representation out of these sad events.

[Echo In Light]

5. ...

:kick: