Cleaning up: after the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster
ExxonMobil agrees to Valdez payout
US supermajor ExxonMobil has reportedly agreed to pay out 75% of a $507.5 million damages ruling to settle a case brought by communities hit by the massive 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker oil spill off Alaska.
The Anchorage Daily News yesterday reported both ExxonMobil and the plaintiff's lawyer as saying the oil giant will release about $383 million for distribution to nearly 33,000 commercial fishermen and others who have sued ExxonMobil after the worst oil spill in US history.
ExxonMobil took a $290 million charge in the second quarter following a US Supreme Court ruling in June that threw out an earlier $2.5 billion damages award against the company and lowered the award to $507.5 million.
The deal will allow fishermen and other plaintiffs to be paid a chunk of the damages as soon as October with a final payout schedule expected to be hammered out this week, the newspaper said, according to a Reuters report.
The Exxon Valdez supertanker spilled about 34,000 tonnes of crude oil after running aground in the costliest accident of its kind. The clean up alone cost around $2.5 billion.
The two sides still disagree about whether ExxonMobil owes interest on the $507 million award, which would bring the final figure to $1 billion, according to plaintiff's lawyers. There is also debate over another $70 million, according to the newspaper.
David Oesting of Anchorage, the lead attorney for the plaintiffs, and ExxonMobil were not immediately available for comment, Reuters said.
While the US Supreme Court ruled on the subject, the justices sent the case back to the lower court to handle the final settlement of the $507.5 million award, which the Court said was the maximum damages available to the plaintiffs.