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Old 06-16-2009, 04:30 AM   #1
Dantheman62
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Default Exxon told to pay interest on Alaska spill award

By MARK THIESSEN, Associated Press Writer Mark Thiessen, Associated Press Writer – Mon Jun 15, 7:21 pm ET

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Exxon Mobil Corp. was ordered Monday to pay about $500 million in interest on punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill off Alaska, nearly doubling the payout to Alaska Natives, fishermen, business owners and others harmed by the 1989 disaster.

The ruling was issued by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco.

In June 2008, the U.S. Supreme Court set punitive damages at $507.5 million. But two months later, the high court declined to decide whether Exxon Mobil must pay interest on the punitive damages awarded in the nation's worst oil spill and instead sent it back to the appeals court.

Monday's decision would double the average payout of about $15,000 for the nearly 33,000 claimants.

"We're just happy that we've cleared another hurdle, and hopefully we can get the case tied up as soon as possible," Stanford University law professor Jeffrey Fisher, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told The Associated Press on Monday. "What we want more than anything now is just to bring this case to a close."

Exxon could appeal the decision on the interest payments to the Supreme Court. A spokesman for Exxon told the AP in an e-mail that the company would comment after the decision has been reviewed.

The case grew out of the 1989 crash of the Exxon Valdez, a supertanker that dumped 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska's Prince William Sound, fouling 1,200 miles of coastline.

Plaintiffs originally were awarded $5 billion, but that amount was cut in subsequent appeals by Irving, Texas-based Exxon.

A jury decided in 1994 that Exxon should pay $5 billion in punitive damages. In 2006, a federal appeals court cut that verdict in half.

The Supreme Court last June slashed the $2.5 billion punitive damages award to $507.5 million.

Exxon had contended that if interest were paid, it should be calculated from the date the punitive damages were set last by the Supreme Court. But in Monday's ruling, the court said interest on the $507.5 million judgment should run from 1996, when the original settlement was entered into court records, at a rate of 5.9 percent.

The spill killed hundreds of thousands of birds and other marine animals, inflicting environmental damage from which the region has not fully recovered, according to numerous scientific studies.

Exxon Mobil countered that many studies have found the area healthy and thriving. The company had argued punitive damages would be excessive punishment on top of the $3.4 billion in cleanup costs, compensatory payments and fines it already has paid.

Exxon maintained it should not be liable for the actions of the supertanker's skipper, Joseph Hazelwood, when the nearly 1,000-foot vessel ran aground with 53 million gallons of oil in its hold.

According to prosecutors, Hazelwood was drunk, but he denied it and was acquitted of the charge in criminal court.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090615/...s_exxon_valdez
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Old 06-17-2009, 01:05 AM   #2
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Default Re: Exxon told to pay interest on Alaska spill award

I think Exxon Mobil is cleaning its face before this week's announcement by Gov. Sarah Palin, who plans to be the next President (still). The news has to somehow be palatable for Alaskans, who aren't forgetting the Valdez spill.

TransCanada is getting $500m subsidy from the state. I don't know what the company's 'state-sanctioned commitments' are. Also, I noticed Bristol Palin on the cover of People last week at the supermarket checkout, with a graduation cap, happy baby, so the image buckets are sloshing around, cleaning.

(Bonnie Fuller says the article promotes teen pregnancy, because of its glamor angle...)
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Exxon joins TransCanada's Alaska pipeline project
Financial Post Published: Thursday, June 11, 2009
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=1686023

CALGARY -- The world's largest publicly owned energy company has thrown its weight behind TransCanada Corp.'s effort to build a natural gas pipeline from Alaska North Slope to the rest of the United States, a move which could jam a stake through the heart of a rival pipeline plan and further haunt Canada's stalled Mackenzie Valley pipeline.

Exxon Mobil Corp. and TransCanada (TRP/TSX) Thursday announced an agreement to work together on the 2,700-kilometre, US$26-billion Alaska pipeline project - one that could move four billion cubic feet of gas a day beginning in 2018.

"TransCanada and Exxon will jointly advance all aspects of the project - technical, commercial, regulatory and financial," said Tony Palmer, TransCanada's vice-president of Alaska development, during a conference call with reporters. "TransCanada can progress the project independently, if it so elects, and will have access to all jointly developed assets and information."

Calgary-based TransCanada will hold a majority interest in the project, but neither company would divulge what percentage Exxon now holds. Texas-based Exxon is not obliged to ship its gas on the much-delayed project, but will negotiate for shipping contracts and evaluate tolls just like any other customer...
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Exxon's entry into TransCanada project may put Mackenzie pipeline on hold
Thursday, June 11, 2009
http://www.globeinvestor.com/servlet...e0611/GIStory/

CALGARY — The Mackenzie natural gas pipeline could be put on hold if Exxon Mobil Corp. teams up with TransCanada Corp. to design and possibly build an Alaska natural gas pipeline.

The $16-billion Mackenzie project has been led by Imperial Oil Ltd., which is 70-per-cent owned by Exxon. Reports Thursday morning that Exxon has chosen to publicly side with TransCanada on the Alaska pipeline may indicate that the supermajor is moving its attention away from Mackenzie...

The bidding process, under a Palin-sponsored law called the Alaska Gasline Inducement Act, offered a $500-million state subsidy and a pledge that the state would not negotiate with any competitors as long as a series of state-sanctioned commitments were met...
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