Exxon Valdez Ship

Nearly 19 years after the Exxon Valdez oil spill fouled Alaska's Prince William Sound, the Supreme Court debated Wednesday whether the world's largest oil company must pay a record $2.5 billion in punitive damages. The eight justices who heard the case appeared closely split, although several of them said they were looking for a way to reduce the size of the award. Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. sat out the case because he is an Exxon stockholder.

A little less than 20 years ago, Mike Webber was king of his own watery world. He was 28 years old, with three herring fishing boats. He leased another long-line boat for halibut, and gill-netted the fat salmon that made Prince William Sound one of the most legendary fisheries in the world. Then came the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. Overnight, it was all gone: Fish prices plummeted. People started selling their fishing permits to pay their mortgages, and then lost their houses anyway.

After the Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground in 1989, experts predicted it would take years to clean up the worst oil spill in U.S. history and restore the pristine waters of Alaska's Prince William Sound. It has turned out that cleaning up the massive litigation in its wake has taken even longer. To the surprise and dismay of some weary plaintiffs' lawyers, the Supreme Court announced Monday that it would reconsider whether Exxon Mobil Corp. can be forced to pay a record $2.

Oil that spilled when the Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground on a jagged rock in 1989 still lingers on and just below Alaska's surface. So does the resentment, and state hearings on the continued effects of the 11-million-gallon spill are reviving the pain and anger of the people affected by the spill. Exxon Mobil Corp. spokesman Mark Boudreaux has said the company paid the compensation it owes and that its studies show Prince William Sound is "healthy, robust and thriving."

A federal appeals court Friday cut in half a $5-billion jury award for punitive damages against Exxon Mobil Corp. in the 1989 Valdez oil spill. The case, one of the nation's longest-running noncriminal legal disputes, stems from a 1994 decision by an Anchorage jury to award the damages to 34,000 fishermen and other Alaskans. Their property and livelihoods were harmed when the oil tanker Valdez struck a charted reef, spilling 11 million gallons of oil. It was the third time the U.S.

A federal judge Wednesday ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay about $6.75 billion to thousands of Alaskans affected by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The ruling is the latest of several damage awards in the case over the last decade -- the result of successful appeals in federal court by Exxon. The company plans to appeal again. The ruling by U.S. District Judge H. Russel Holland ordered Exxon, based in Irving, Texas, to pay $4.5 billion in punitive damages and about $2.25 billion in interest.

Hidden pools of oil left over from the Exxon Valdez spill 14 years ago continued to damage the Alaskan coastal environment for a decade, killing pink salmon eggs and retarding the population growth of sea otters, harlequin ducks and other wildlife, a new study says.

Oil from the 1989 grounding of the Exxon Valdez supertanker in Prince William Sound will kill or stunt Alaskan pink salmon for generations to come, government scientists say. "Those buried oil pockets are sort of like land mines," said Jeffrey Short, a scientist with the National Marine Fisheries Service. The service's researchers presented their findings at a conference in Anchorage. Despite a massive cleanup of the 10.

Money linked to the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled Alaska shorelines will be used to clean up another oil-tainted coastline--the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Those drafting the public purchase of Bolsa Chica learned Thursday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency will contribute $400,000 set aside from a settlement reached after the devastating 1989 Exxon spill. The money is part of a much larger sum the oil giant paid the U.S.

Money linked to the devastating Exxon Valdez oil spill that fouled Alaska shorelines will be used to remedy another oil-tainted coastal property--the Bolsa Chica wetlands. Those crafting the public purchase of Bolsa Chica confirmed Thursday that the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency will contribute $400,000 to the cleanup effort from a settlement related to the devastating 1989 Exxon spill.