Did anyone drop their bagel mid-bite or spit out their coffee when the news Exxon was getting a pat on the hand came through today?
Not long after our dear President Bush indicated that he wanted to put the pipe to more pristine Alaskan territory in that bravado tone he uses...
The $2.5 billion in punitive damages formerly decided against Exxon for the sea of thick black crude it disastrously puked upon Alaska's wildlife and way of life was all but dropped today.
Tax paying Americans, and every TV watcher with a heart and soul worldwide, wept tears of sorrow for the countless suffocating, devastated, and dead creatures of God's design.
The persons of the Supreme Court of the United States deemed that the original ruling should be slashed because it was excessive under maritime law. Instead it has lowered the punishment, not in half but less than a fourth to just over $507 million dollars.
Big oil must be smiling with supreme pleasure. Exxon earned just over $40 billion in the year 2007 alone. Which basically amounts to a minor traffic violation fee for what it was responsible for. The amount won't even come anywhere near to covering the losses families have been forced to endure as they themselves saw their way of life literally drown in the thick, sick sludge which poured from the tanker at 11,300,000 gallons in just a few hours. The result was an oil slick the size of 3,000 sq. miles which has caused a lasting effect still 19 years later.
We can not embed the video here because while they have not been able to prevent the video from being archived, they have managed to prevent the video from spilling out all over the internet. Instead, you'll have to see it by clicking on this link
If you are a stock holder of Exxon (XOM), you have Supreme Court Justice David Souter to thank for keeping your stock price where it is at today.
Tonight we pray for the souls of the Exxon Board of Directors.
However we doubt they will put things right because they take pleasure in the now and obviously are not worried for their future.
As of last August 2007, the Exxon Valdez still rode the waters of the world as the S/R Mediterranean. The new name was given in 1990 after 1,500 metric tons of steel were removed and replaced in repairs following the incident.
FROM Wikipedia:
The Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union, representing approximately 40,000 workers nationwide, announced opposition to drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge (ANWR) until Congress enacted a comprehensive national energy policy. In the aftermath of the spill, Alaska governor Steve Cowper issued an executive order requiring two tugboats to escort every loaded tanker from Valdez out through Prince William Sound to Hinchinbrook Entrance. As the plan evolved in the 1990s, one of the two routine tugboats was replaced with a 210 foot (64 m) Escort Response Vehicle (ERV). The majority of tankers at Valdez are still single-hulled, but Congress has enacted legislation requiring all tankers to be double-hulled by 2015.
In 1991, following the collapse of the local marine population (particularly clams, herring, and seals) the Chugach Native American group went bankrupt[26]
Many of the real estate appraisal methods used to value contaminated property and brownfields were developed as a result of and following the spill. The use of survey research (e.g. contingent valuation and conjoint measurement) became a well-accepted appraisal method as a result of the complex valuation problems associated with contamination.[27]
According to several studies funded by the state of Alaska, the spill had both short- and long term economic effects. These included the loss of recreational sports fisheries, reduced tourism, and an estimate of what economists call "existence value," which is the value to the public of a pristine Prince William Sound.[28][29][30]
WikiScanner discovered changes made from within Exxon Mobil, altering this article's descriptions of the oil spill and down playing its severity.
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