Spill Baby Spill!

The anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska brings back memories.

I was sipping on a cup of coffee in Wasilla, Alaska on that fateful day in 1989.

The radio mentioned that an oil tanker had run aground near Valdez 20 minutes earlier, and was reportedly leaking cargo.

In those days Alaska was more environmentally friendly, really really had a determination to keep Alaska pristine, and so that spill was big news then.

Later I watched the lawyer community in Anchorage grow as lawsuits mounted and then proceeded.

National Geographic has this to say about the infamous spill:

Although it was not large compared to other spills, the Valdez oil spill was one of the world's most ecologically devastating disasters, spoiling more than 1,200 miles (1,931 kilometers) of shoreline, including three national parks, three national wildlife refuges, and one national forest.

(National Geographic). The native people had sold their land to the military oil complex for one dollar on the promise that the oilsters would be very careful and take care of the environment.

Well, forked man speaks with white tongue, so the oil company of course violated the agreement.

The Exxon Valdez's radar had not been working for a very long time, and was not even activated on that fateful day. The oil robber barons were not careful, so once again the native Americans were wronged by the oil crusaders.

To this day there is still oil on beaches in that vast pristine area. Since no one comes to look very much, the oil companies have gotten away with it.

And the judges of some of the courts, possibly beholding to the oil companies in "prior lifetimes" in some way, have cut the damages Exxon has to pay down to a small percentage of the original jury awards.

The addiction to oil continues like a plague.

The next post in this series is here.