Exxon Spill -- 20 Years of Tears

Opening your mailbox to an Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Settlement check is like getting a royalty payment for the snuff film your kid brother was in. Hey, you're getting paid...but he's still dead...and you got to watch it.

The spring of 1989 was beautiful. I left the Ballard Lochs onboard the M/V Westward the night my finals at Seattle University were completed. Going north through the Inside Passage of British Columbia and Alaska was like being on the edge of a Technicolor movie...moving with the color...winter turning green. Whales and porpoises were escorting us at a leisurely 9 knot pace. I was going home to the fishing grounds.

Every spring I ache for the fishery. It doesn't matter if I'm driving my daughter to school, shoveling snow, or vacationing in Hawaii...I long for the heave of waves under my feet; the sound of a Deutz generator and voyeuristic eavesdropping over the marine radio; wheel watch at midnight based upon the outcome of a cribbage game, pilot bread and peanut butter, salt sprayed cigarettes, blood in my caffeine stream.

This year is different. The Supreme Court decision in June 2008 all but pardoned Exxon's negligence. The highest court in the land condoned the half-assed clean up. The RATS-Roberts, Alito, Thomas and Scalia, (Alito recused himself, confident that Souter and Kennedy would fill the business friendly void) winked at their corporate masters as the Judas Court betrayed Justice. This year I long for the wholeness that was promised.

On the morning of March 24th the galley of the Westward was full of fishermen. We were docked in Sitka and picked up the local news feed on our television normally reserved for Mel Gibson videos or the Lonesome Dove series. Coffee, cigarette smoke, fishy raingear and a frantic need to know charged the wheel house.

We had just enjoyed a herring opening that promised a money season. Panic set in and with it, paranoia. A man named Rex was convinced it was a plot to bring oil platforms into Prince William Sound. The Goddamn environmentalists were blocking the burning of the oil...how much was there? Where was it going to go? There was a storm coming from the North. Where the hell were the containment booms? Where were the emergency response teams? Why were we still sitting in the harbor? Hundreds of boats, days before racing to the herring grounds, now fueled up to do something. None of us sure what that would be, but willing to do anything to protect our livelihood. You see, being a fisherman isn't what you do; it's who you are.

Greg Palast, Ricki Ott, and Sharon Bushell have all investigated, reported and lamented the days before and after the Spill. The Myth continues...a drunk captain...an endlessly delayed response...a big storm. The truth is mired somewhere under the sediment of propaganda and media campaigns. What should be remembered as the greatest example of environmental terrorism is now better known as a drunk driver story.

Exxon doesn't have marked offices in Alaska. In 20 years, the state and Exxon have not reconciled. The Federal Government and the State of Alaska were complicit in the spill and the cover-up. Precautions, provisions, and preventative measures had all been made law. It seemed that wasn't the issue...the problem was finding a government agency to enforce those laws. Exxon's cost cutting measures insured a disaster; laid off spill responders; not fixing the disabled Raycas radar; the containment boom barge iced into dry-dock. All those profit enhancements were expected of a company that answered only to it's shareholders. The government agencies that looked away from negligence and their responsibility have never been held accountable.

Our delegation to Washington DC could have introduced a law over the last 20 years to force Exxon to pick up their bar tab and pay for their crime. They were woefully silent. Instead, they debated things like gay marriage, vaginal rights, Bill Clinton's impeachment over extra-presidential activities, steroids in baseball, and Terry Schiavo. Meanwhile, dozens of Alaskans, displaced from their identity, committed suicide while waiting for justice.

When Governor Palin was asked by Katie Couric what Supreme Court decisions other than Roe v Wade she disagreed with, she couldn't think of one. NOT ONE! She was a moose caught in the headlights. That didn't work out too well for the moose or the vehicle. The Alaska fisherman lost their voice once again. Thanks, but no thanks, Sarah. Her siding with Pebble Mine was enough...the icing on the cake was the wasted chance....a chance to tell America our story...an Alaskan story...thousands sick from clean up...tens of thousands bankrupt from a dead fishery. Sarah Palin is to Alaska what Velveeta is to cheese; sadly unsatisfying and empty of nutrition. She had the national stage to plead Alaskan's case to citizens who had long forgotten the images of a once pristine Prince William Sound turned into a thick, black, rolling sea; the oiled sea otters and birds, unrecognizable seals and whales; an initially deformed and diseased herring run that became extinct-costing Cordova $100 million a year. Exxon exploited Alaska and turned pain into profit. The state's willingness to do business with Exxon was like having your parents rent the basement to the guy who date raped you on prom night. Am I clear?

Tonight, I sit saddened and physically drained as I mark another March 24th on the calendar. Only this time, I know we will never be whole again.

So on this 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez "fetching up" on Bligh Reef, I light a candle. I listen to songs driven from the depth of artists reaching for reason, and I grieve the suicides of at least a dozen men left powerless to the Spill. I ask my fellow citizens to remember a pristine coastline they have never seen...one as long as the Western seaboard, and I pray for protection. Many Alaskans have lost more than I, but what I have lost has left me less then I was 20 years ago...just a girl from Homer...a girl with a dream to catch fish.

 

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Comments

[niko73]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, Exxon is the Antichrist.

You wanna know who the REAL culprits were? You, me, and every other American using more than their fair share of oil. 200 Exxon Valdez dock every day in harbors in the US. How can we have this level of consumption and not expect some accidents to happen?

I'm not saying we absolve Exxon of blame or stop trying our best to avoid accidents. But I am saying that given America's insatiable thirst for oil, hammering on Exxon is not going to make a difference. It's every one of us who needs to use less and lobby our leaders to push towards transitioning away from fossil fuels. Only that can ensure we don’t see any more Valdezes.

[AngieMom57]

All those with Exxon stock: SHAME ON YOU!

[jqcitizen]

I have always wondered why that spill was not immediately torched. It was well known, at the time, that containment of this amount of crude was going to be impossible. Certainly there would have been a lot of pollutants into the atmosphere, but not in a highly populated area. With the spill in Santa Barbara, Ca., decades before, burning might have not been an option. -The pollutants resulting from burning the EXXON Valdez tanker would not have caused anywhere near the atmospheric damage that the oilfield fires in Kuwait, set by Saddam Hussein, did after the Gulf War.

Hindsight is clear, of course, but Prince William Sound is still a dead zone and that oil will be there forever. I just wish it had been burned 20 years ago.

[Emerald1943]

Unbelievable! I still cannot believe that Exxon has not owned up to this disaster while posting the largest profits in the history of mankind. Big Oil has had a choke-hold on this country for far too many years. Time to "re-power America"! We need to support the President's plan to get us off fossil fuels, period! And maybe, just maybe, this will never happen again.

Keep up the good work, Shannyn!

[forsmokey]

Thank you Shannyn for continuing to shine a light on this tragedy. I taped (yes VCR) a t.v. program on the Valdez spill just after it happened and used it during lectures to middle and high school students about items made from petroleum that they use and throw away everyday. They were shocked and I hope moved by what they saw in that video. The United States is supposed to be the nation of the best and the brightest yet I too look around at so few changes being made in our consumption of natural resources. Twenty years gone in the blink of an eye. That is a lot of justifiable tears.

50 Simple You Can Do To Save The Earth, 5 million copies sold and still in print. It's never too late and never too little for one more person to start somewhere, just please start.

http://www.50simplethings.com/

[elljayee]

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and remembrances, Shannyn. Powerful words.

[aloha43]

Sarah Palin is ruining Alaska! I can't believe that they have someone like that in charge of our great state!

Oil Spill cover up, lots of ethics complaints, Polar Bears, wolves being killed by plane and helicopter shootings, drilling in ANWR, Belugas...there have been so many things that she has done that there are too many to remember.

Someone needs to stop her. And, please....keep her away from the lower 48 and Hawaii. Just think of what she would do if she were to ever run the country.

Please, please, please! Everyone please wake up to what Sarah Palin represents.

[Elstun Lauesen]

Exxon needs to be taken to the World Court of Arbitration, just as Exxon did to Venezuela last year when they disagreed over asset valuation to surrender the oil company's Lake Maracaibo leases. The Baker Plaintiffs should file an appeal to the Court using the same argument that Exxon did against Venezuela, basically, that they cannot get a fair hearing before the nation's courts. Such an argument would be reasonable and sustained by facts. 20 years does not represent timely justice, slashing the punative award to 10% does not represent balance; and allowing Exxon to appeal on a narrow marine discharge statute not considered by the rulings of the (more favorable) lower courts does not represent fairness. Exxon needs to be subjected to the same rules and limitations as Venezuela and have $5 Billion of their assets seized pending arbitration. Such a process would eliminate payment by the recalcitrant Giant.

[kwalters]

Amen Elstun!

[DesertDogAlpha]

This has been litigated in the US courts (admittedly probably not as good as the "World Court of Arbitration") for 20 straight years. You don't get to follow the law only when the courts make decisions you personally like. You have to follow them all. So far, Exxon seems to be winning more than losing.

[kwalters]

That's Exactly what Exxxon has done. I applaud Elstun's proposition and would whole heartily support it.

The right wing wackos strategy is so transparent. They appoint ACTIVIST JUDGES, and then cement into their vernacular the term LIBERAL ACTIVIST JUDGES! Tell me what verdict has done more damage then Bush v Gore or Exxon v Baker? Bush has spent 8 years on a corruption and greed rampage and because of Exxon v Baker, there are no more punitive damages for corporations that commit environmental terrorism. A permit to pollute could not have come any cheaper to the corporations nor more expensive to the envirnoment from here on out...

[drymartini1]

If you cant beat em, join em.

Put in an order to buy some shares of XOM. :)

[blizzardofoz]

Thank you for the awesome article Shannyn. Your comments on Exxon and Governor Palin could not be more on target. Justice delayed is justice denied and Exxon pretty well managed both. What they did may have been "legal" but was unethical to the people of Alaska and the state of Alaska. I would like to see a ballot that would give the people of Alaska an opportunity to vote on whether we wish to have a company like Exxon continue as a business partner. We may not be able to take what they have here but if we choose to, exclude them from any further activities in the state. Send a message to other oil companies and send Exxon's future here packing.

[ccairnes]

Who is going to write the book about the connection between the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the rise of Bill Allen and VECO?

[elljayee]

I don't know but there sure as heck needs to be one! "Follow the money," isn't that what Deep Throat is supposed to have said?

[TJCole]

Nationalize the Oil Industry and all Major Energy...!

[FreedomFirst]

Do you seriously believe that state owned utilities with their internal regulation and civil immunity would be safer?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_disaster

[Chubbster]

Some day you'll have to let go of the past.

[kwalters]

Yeah, well if you know not history CHUBBSTER, you're doomed to repeat it. The Exxon Valdez catastrophe and the subsequent landmark verdict cannot be discussed often enough. This fascist precedent certainly impacts the future. From here on out, multi-national corporations can view their environmental risk and cost analysis as basically a permit to pollute and wreak environmental havoc.

The United States Congress has overturned Supreme Court decisions over 100 times. What verdict would be more deserving than this one? How does the fractions of pennies on the dollar cap on punitive damages benefit the people? The short answer??? It doesn't.

Chubbster, take your snarky comment back to TeamSarah-where ridiculously shallow thought and discussion are encouraged and promoted!

[ccairnes]

The Exxon Valdez oil spill is not in the past. It just happened on this date 20 years ago. The spill continues to this day and started more than a decade before it happened. In much the same way, the current economic disaster started with lax enforcement of eroded regulations and continues into a future of lost retirement funds, unemployment and home foreclosures.

[Shannyn Moore - Huffpost Blogger]

Chubb, I hope you don't work for a suicide hotling, rape crisis center or with veterans. We've got some rocks up here you could clean...they're still oily.

[kwalters]

So many things to say. I was in Seattle at the time. The night of the Spill, hundreds spontaneously came out to Alki Beach and held lit candles at dusk. It was such a devastating and powerless feeling. The fascists on the Supreme Court forever capped corporate negligence at pennies on the dollar. With Pebble Mine looming, that Supreme Court decision means Anglo American, with their own criminal environmental record rivaling Exxons, could soil Bristol Bay, kill all the fish and chalk it up as the cost of doing business. Their bottom line is not based on fish, it's based on gold and copper. One of the things that has struck me over the years is the power of the press release. Whether the White House issues them or a large multinational corporation. The 11 million gallon spill was Exxon's low ball estimate. Riki Ott documented how they came up with that number and how it is WRONG. The spill was more likely 33 million gallons. Not that it really matters to the extinct herring anymore...

[fleaba]

Are you talking about the Westward...the sister boat to the Crane out of Ketchikan????