Exxon to pay Alaskans $6.75bn for oil spill

A federal judge has ordered Exxon Mobil to pay about $6.75bn (€5.4bn) 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 past decade – the result of successful appeals in federal court by Exxon. The company plans to appeal again.

Yesterday’s ruling by US District Judge Russel Holland ordered the Irving, Texas-based company to pay $4.5bn in punitive damages and an estimated $2.25bn (€3.6bn) in interest.

The money is to go to 32,000 fishermen, Alaska Natives, landowners, small businesses and cities affected by the 11 million gallon spill in Prince William Sound.

“We have now closed the trial court doors for the last time in this litigation after 15 years,” said David Oesting, lead attorney for the plantiffs. “We’re definitely on track to the end of the entire dispute.”

The judge had been ordered by the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals to reconsider the damages awarded in an earlier ruling in light of a Supreme Court decision last year concerning punitive damages.

“This ruling flies in the face of the guidelines set by the appeals court,” company spokesman Tom Cirigliano said.

He said the 9th Circuit has twice vacated Holland’s decisions in the case.

Holland reduced the Exxon punitive damages award to $4bn (€3.2bn) a year ago after a three-judge panel of the 9th Circuit sent the original $5bn (€4bn) verdict back, saying it was excessive.

Governor Frank Murkowski noted that while the decision “moves the process on,” Exxon’s plans to appeal signify there’s no end in sight to the legal dispute.

“It would be helpful if the two parties would consider discussing a settlement, so that any award that might come from the lawsuit could have application during the lifetime of the thousands of plaintiffs,” Murkowski said.

An estimated 250,000 seabirds and thousands of marine mammals died as a result of the spill, which contaminated more than 1,200 miles of shoreline.

Lingering effects of the spill include declines in various marine populations, as well as stunted growth in such species as pink salmon.