Letter to the Editor: PWS, GOA never fully recovered from spill

Dear Editor,

Studies have shown that Prince William Sound and Gulf of Alaska beaches and wildlife have never fully recovered from the Exxon Valdez spill. Less studied is whether affected Alaskans have recovered from dealing with Exxon. Exxon officials said they would clean it up and pay the people that were damaged. In fact, they avoided cleaning the oil whenever they could, and vigorously and mostly successfully in the courts fought to not pay damages.

Exxon blatantly lied about the size of the spill and the cause of the grounding. State and federal officials, afraid of Exxon’s famous litigiousness, decided the truth didn’t matter, and let Exxon write the history as they wished.

The spill was three times larger than they reported, about thirty million gallons. The cause was that they were attempting a dangerous, illegal shortcut and Gregory Cousins, unqualified to be piloting the ship, made a tragic mistake, throwing the wheel hard right when entering the “old steamship passage,” swinging the bow to contact Bligh Reef. Hazelwood compounded the damage and loss of oil by drunkenly trying to motor off the reef.

Exxon has repeatedly asserted the lies about the size and cause of the spill. There is no statute of limitations on continuing deception and fraud. The state and federal governments could now sue Exxon and win a lot of money. Why not? Because there is one standard of justice for a rich and powerful rogue corporation and another standard for the rest of us, who are required to be honest and accountable.

— Findlay Abbott
Homer

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