Two decades on, US high court takes up Exxon Valdez oil spill case
WASHINGTON (AFP) — The US Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear arguments on whether ExxonMobil Corporation should pay 2.5 billion dollars in damages for a massive oil spill two decades ago that despoiled millions of acres of pristine Alaska wilderness.
The high court will hear ExxonMobil’s appeal, in the latest chapter in a long-running legal battle that has raged since the Exxon Valdez oil tanker crashed into a reef in Prince William Sound on March 24, 1989, spilling 11 million gallons of crude into Alaskan fishing waters.
The spill was the worst oil disaster ever to hit the United States, polluting 500 kilometers (310 miles) of coastline, killing tens of thousands of birds and hundreds of sea otters. According a University of Alaska study, only a quarter of the marine life survived the spill.
ExxonMobil afterwards spent some 2.1 billion dollars cleaning up the polluted coastline and more than 300 million in compensation for fishermen and locals affected by the catastrophe.
The company also paid out more than 900 million dollars of fines in a bid to halt criminal proceedings begun against it by the US government and the state of Alaska.
But in 1994, a jury in a civil Alaskan lawsuit ordered the Texas-based firm to pay five billion dollars in damages to some 34,000 fishermen and others whose livelihoods were decimated in Prince William Sound.
The oil giant has fought that verdict ever since and in 2006, a federal court cut the punitive damages to 2.5 billion saying the amount was more in line with legal precedent.
ExxonMobil, which posted 40.6 billion dollars in profits for 2007, argues it already has taken full responsibility for the oil spill and paid all relevant fines and costs associated with the disaster.
The court has scheduled an unusual 90-minute hearing, rather than the usual one-hour session — to hear arguments in the case.
One of the nine justices, Samuel Alito, has recused himself from the case. His financial disclosure forms indicate he owns more than 100,000 dollars of ExxonMobil stock.
A court ruling is expected by July.
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