U.S. Senators to Team Up in Effort to Resolve EXXON VALDEZ Spill Settlement

Published Jun 29, 2006 12:01 AM by The Maritime Executive

In a June 23 press release, Washington Senator Patty Murray and Alaska Senator Lisa Murkowski announced a bipartisan effort to convince Exxon Mobil Corporation to provide compensation to some 32,000 individuals and firms nationwide that were allegedly damaged by the EXXON VALDEZ oil spill which occurred more than 17 years ago. The effort includes the gathering of signatures from other U.S. Senators to be placed onto a letter to Exxon Mobil’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. The letter asks that the corporation either resume settlement talks or pay another $4.5 billion in damages.

Murray insists that EXXON has a legal mandate to compensate those who have been harmed by the spill, in accordance with damages awarded by the courts. The bulk of Alaska's fisheries have recovered from the spill, but some aspects of the industry remain closed. According to Murray’s press release, claimants in all fifty states and the District of Columbia await remedy.

Meanwhile, Exxon Mobil has deflected the latest U.S. Government claim that it should pay another $92 million to defray additional cleanup cost to the Alaskan coastline. More than 17 years after the Exxon Valdez ran aground in Prince William Sound, the U.S. Justice Department and the Alaska Department of Law say ‘residual oil caused by the Exxon Valdez in 1989 is still toxic and it continues to impact the state’s natural resources."

EXXON has already paid $900 million in a civil settlement, but the agreement had a "re-opener clause,'' which allows for additional payments for unforeseen natural resource damage. EXXON has publicly stated that there are no new developments to warrant additional payments. Moreover, the oil giant says the possibility of oil residue causing further biological harm is a hypothesis without scientific evidence that the residue is harming the population, animal species, or the environment.

In 1994, a federal jury awarded total damages of $5 billion. Exxon appealed on multiple grounds, and the case that has been to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for review on nine different occasions. Damages have been upheld three times, but the amount has been reduced to $4.5 billion, plus interest.