My Thoughts on Oils Companies and Weak Governments.

I think you would have to live under a rock and not have a computer or access to a TV or newspaper if you didn’t know about the current oil spill taking place in the Gulf of Mexico after The Deepwater Horizon platform exploded and then sank two days later on April 22nd.

This happened 24klms of the Louisiana’s coast and sadly killed 11 workers. It is a terrible tragedy and now an environmental disaster looks imminent. BP the huge company looks to be unable to cap the well for a few months. There are apparently 910,000 litres of oil spilling from the well each day, so far an estimated 1.5 million gallons has spewed from the well.

There are many groups out there now worried about the environmental impact this spill will have, and so they should be. It could be absolutely devastating for so many animals, habitats and the lively hoods of many people involved in fisheries to name a few.

There are attempts being made to contain the spill, but these seem to be failing. It is a little amusing that in this day and age, where countries have amazing weaponry of missiles that can fly thousands of kilometres and hit targets that have been selected from a control room, unmanned spy planes and drones guided by remote control, send satellites into space to orbit the earth and gather information, and the list could go on and on.

But here we are not having a solution to an oil spill. There hasn’t been billions or trillions of dollars spent working on such a solution or solutions. It isn’t for national security I suppose and this would also mean the huge oil companies, the greediest of the greedy would have to spend some of their ludicrous profits they make each year instead of passing all onto share holders and also into the pockets of the fat-cat executives.

I would like to go back to 1989, to an oil spill that every oil company should have learnt from and every government as well. Unless you are young you should know of it.

The Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker left the Exxon Alaska terminal on March 23 heading for Long Beach, California. To cut a long story short the ship hit a reef called Bligh Reef in the inbound shipping lane in Prince William Sound. The outbound shipping lane had many icebergs and the captain requested to use the inbound lane and was granted this permission from the Coast Guard. It was 5 miles where it should have been and the reef is well marked.

Just after midnight the ship struck the reef, oil started spewing into the sea. In all 11 million gallons would seep into the ocean and cover 1,300 miles of coastline. Some received light spills, where others were inches thick.

The oil travelled as far as 470 miles away. The impact on animals was terrible with an estimated 250,000 seabirds, 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 150 bald eagles, up to 22 killer whales, and billions of salmon and herring eggs died as a direct result of the spill. Only two species (the bald eagle and the sea otter) of the original list of twenty-eight directly affected fish and wildlife species had been declared fully recovered from the spill.

There was the blame game of course to why the accident happened in the first place, to name a few were:

Exxon Shipping Company failed to repair the Raycas radar system, this system is pretty important as it sets an alarm off informing of an imminent collision, also Exxon failed to supervise the master and provide a rested and sufficient crew.

The United States Coast Guard failed to provide an effective vessel traffic system.

But most tried to blame the Captain, Joseph Hazelwood was accused of being drunk at the time of the accident. Most people had good reasons to suspect this. He was known to many to have a drinking problem and also his record supported this.

Hazelwood's driver's license had been suspended or revoked three times by the state of New York for alcohol violations since 1984. At the time of the incident, his New York state driving privileges were suspended as a result of a driving under the influence arrest on September 13, 1988.

He entered a rehabilitation program in 1985 at South Oaks Hospital, and he received 90 days of leave to attend Alcoholics Anonymous, but it is not clear if he attended during that leave. On the night of the accident he admitted to drinking 2 or 3 vodkas. Once a drunk always I drunk I personally thought.

Plaintiffs in the law suit to follow say Exxon knew Hazelwood had begun drinking again after seeking treatment, but the company still put him at the helm. And this could be true as;

Alan Jeffers, the Exxon spokesman, said "the spill led to significant reforms, including improved technologies and a new management system. For example it has instituted drug and alcohol testing for safety sensitive positions, jobs that cannot be held by those with substance abuse histories." (Too late now)

Anyway, we could go on. Let’s look at Exxon and the way they handled the spill. I have read a lot about this spill and also seen different documentaries but a few years ago I watched this one, Black Wave: The Legacy of the Exxon Valdez and again had me reading. You can download and watch the documentary here; it is 43 minutes long and is really worth watching.

Here you have recordings of Exxon people doing as they do best, spin doctoring to make then look good. The huge companies are greedy, they care about nothing but money.

“Kick ass and get stuff out there. I don’t care what it is. I don’t care if it picks up 2 gallons (of oil) a week. Get that shit out there and stand it around where people can see it,” from Don Cornett, Exxon spokesman on March 25th 1989 the day after the spill.

On the 28th of March 1989, 4 days after the spill, Exxon sent their spin doctor Don Cornett to Cordova High School to face the angry locals. And he comes out with;

“I am here to tell you what we are going to do about it (the oil spill)”. “I’m going to show you what we are doing about it. And we are doing the best job that has ever been done on an oil spill. And watch, just watch.. You have had some good luck, and you don’t realize it. YOU HAVE EXXON. AND WE DO BUSINESS STRAIGHT.” This was just some of the shit that fell out of his mouth that day in Cordova.

But the best is this, “We (Exxon) will consider whatever it takes, to keep you whole.” “You have my word on that, Don Cornett. I told you that.” Little did the locals know that Exxon were going to bend them over and fu#k them like no-one has ever been fuc#ed before.

The local’s (about 32,000 plaintiffs) had to take a class action out against Exxon in 1994 and this continued until 2009 through appeals by Exxon. It is sickening what they did. It’s a disgrace that any government or court of law allowed this to happen. Brian O’Neill was the plaintiffs’ lead counsel said he proved that Exxon knew Hazlewood was a drunk and they put him on the bridge knowing this.

April 19th, 1989 at a Senate Subcomittee Hearing, Frank Iarossi, President, Exxon Shipping Co. said this. “From the time that Captain Hazelwood returned from rehabilitation, he was the most closely scrutinized individual in our company.”

Why would you let a man who has had such a long and prolonged problem with alcohol captain a ship carrying such a cargo?

In 1994 at a pre trial deposition, Hazlewood was askedif Exxon had asked him,
“Was there any discussion about personal problems?” He replied, “No, not that I recall.”

Also asked, “What about the beer over the walkie-talkies, was that discussed?” He replied, “Not that I recall.”

Then he was asked, “Was the subject of alcohol discussed at all?” He answered, “Phew… Not that I can recall, no.”

Also, “I take it that nobody asked you whether you had had any alcohol since your discharge from South Oaks, had alcohol recently?” He answered, “No.”

Here is a man he has been in rehabilitation, to alcoholics anonymous and was back drinking probably as soon as he walked out the doors of the clinic.

On June 14th, 1994 the jury after 4 weeks of deliberation, found Hazlewood guilty of being “reckless” and was found liable and ordered to pay the sum of $5,000 dollars to the plaintiffs. We the jury find Exxon liable to the plaintiffs to the sum of 5 billion dollars (5,000,000,000).

Lee Raymond, Exxon Chairman came out and said, “This verdict is totally unwarranted and unfair. We will use every legal means available to overturn this unjust verdict, which is not a final judgment.”

Lead counsel for the plaintiffs, David Oesting said, “They (Exxon) never had any intention to pay this. I was told by their lawyers, not privately either. Exxon will not pay a single penny of this judgment until they have exhausted every possible legal recourse possible.”

Lets look at their 5 billion they had tucked away in case the judgment stood.

Interest on 5 billion dollars.

$9 per second

$564 dollars a minute

$34,000 per hour

$812,000 per day

$296 million per year

After holding the money in an account for 20 years it is estimated to have made $30 billion dollars in interest.

Even today, there is scientific proof of damage still being done by this spill, 21 years later. You dig into the soil and oil is still present but ExxonMobil (As they are now known) release this on their website.

ExxonMobil, “The claims made by several environmental groups of continuing ‘severe’ ecological damage to Prince William Sound is simply untrue”

Exxon have also spin doctored their own facts and you can read just a few,

In 1993, Exxon releases its "Video for Students" and distributes it to school districts across the U.S. -- except Alaska. The video is a blatant manipulation of the facts and is severely rebuked by scientists. "How Exxon's 'Video for Students' Deals in Distortions,"

Also 1993, Exxon presents its "findings" in Atlanta, Georgia that conclude wildlife is "thriving" in Prince William Sound; that the recovery of the Sound has been remarkably rapid; and that there will be no long-term effects from spill.

Exxon releases glossy public relations material called "Myth and Fact" with Exxon science as "fact." Exxon attacks NOAA scientists, accusing them of mixing up Exxon Valdez oil with other oil in the Sound.

Not only is NOAA able to refute Exxon's manipulation, but as Exxon is presenting its "findings" in Atlanta, the herring population crashes in the Sound -- at a loss of 100,000 of 120,000 tons -- and surviving fish get visible lesions from a virus. Subsequent lab tests find that exposure to even low levels of oil can compromise the immune system of adult fish and lead to viral disease.

In 1995, Enraging the Native citizens of Prince William Sound, an Exxon-funded sociology study by Christopher Wooley concludes the Native community is better off after the spill than before. Ask the Native community or Dr. Picou about this outrageous study.

In 1999, Anticipating a renewed focus on the Exxon Valdez disaster as the March 24, 1999 tenth anniversary approaches, Exxon and the American Petroleum Insitute organize and run their own "oil spill conference" in Seattle from March 8-11, 1999. No one from the other side is invited: no victims nor any critical scientists. The conference is clearly designed to deflect journalists away from what we on Prince William Sound know too well: that Exxon has mishandled the Valdez disaster and has refused to make the people and environment of Prince William Sound “whole”.

And it could go on and on. To the court case.

In 1994, a jury awarded in the case Baker V Exxon, 287 million in actual damages, and 5 billion in punitive damages. 5 billion was the profit made in a single year by Exxon at that stage.

Exxon appealed to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals and ordered original judge, Russell Holland to ‘reduce the punitive damages’ On Decemeber 6th 2002 he reduced them to 4 billion dollars. Exxon appealed this decision due to a recent judgment in another case. Judge Holland then increased the punitive damages to 4.5 billion, plus interest.

More appeals were filed and in January 2006 Exxon, nearly 17 years after the spill, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals listened to oral arguments and then on December 22nd 2006 they cut the punitive damages to 2.5 billion dollars.

Exxon still wasn’t happy. They appealed again. On May 23, 2007, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals denied ExxonMobil's request for a third hearing and let stand its ruling that Exxon owes $2.5 billion in punitive damages. Exxon then appealed to the Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.

February 27, 2008 the supreme court hears oral arguments and then the judge, Justice Samuel Alito recused himself from the case as he owned $250,000 in Exxon stock.

New Justice, David Souter then issued the judgment of vacating the 2.5 billion dollar punitive damages, and remanding the case back to the lower court. Apparently the damages were excessive for maritime common law. Exxon’s actions were deemed, worse than negligent but less than malicious.

This then meant that the judgment in this punitive case could be no more than $507.5 million dollars, a pittance of the original judgment and a disgrace. Some lawmakers, such as Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick J. Leahy, have decried the ruling as "another in a line of cases where this Supreme Court has misconstrued congressional intent to benefit large corporations." How could anyone not agree? These oil companies pad the fundraising campaigns of too many politicians.

This is Exxon’s take on all of this:

That punitive damages greater than $25 million are not justified because the spill resulted from an accident, and because Exxon spent an estimated $2 billion cleaning up the spill and a further $1 billion to settle related civil and criminal charges. (Exxon fuc#ed so much of the clean-up up. They killed so much using poisonous chemicals and hot water. They lied about it and continued to lie for years)

Such as; in 1991, Exxon made a quiet, separate financial settlement of damages with a group of seafood producers known as the Seattle Seven (The companies, Aleutian Dragon Fisheries (ADF), Icicle Seafoods, North Coast Seafood Processors, North Pacific Processors, Ocean Beauty Seafoods, Trident Seafoods, Wards Cove Packing Co.) for the disaster's effect on the Alaskan seafood industry.

The agreement granted $63.75 million to the Seattle Seven, but stipulated that the seafood companies would have to repay almost all of any punitive damages awarded in other civil proceedings. The $5 billion in punitive damages was awarded later, and the Seattle Seven's share could have been as high as $750 million if the damages award had held.

Other plaintiffs have objected to this secret arrangement, and when it came to light, Judge Holland ruled that Exxon should have told the jury at the start that an agreement had already been made, so the jury would know exactly how much Exxon would have to pay.

In June of 2009 a federal ruling ordered Exxon and additional 480 million in interest on their delayed punitive damages, still pathetic indeed.

Sorry I am getting carried away here. This oil spill caused so much damage, environmental, monetary, to name just a few. The pink salmon in 1991 came at the wrong time and only for a short period and were very poor quality, 1992 they didn’t appear.

In 1993 the only 30% of the Herring came to spawn in Prince William Sound but were diseased. They were swimming in circles on the surface and seagulls were feasting on them. They had white spots and were bleeding. Studies were undertaken from the oil and unaffected oil areas on herring and it showed a tripling in deformities in hatchlings from Prince William Sound.

And in 1993 the pink salmon fisheries collapsed as well. People’s only livelihoods were gone.

One family secured a fishing permit and boat for 300,000 dollars in February of 1989, a month before the oil spill. 4 years later they sold for $47 dollars and they got lower with others selling theirs for $12.

Also it took its toll on humans, people who had good lifestyles before all this, lost virtually everything. Some committed suicide, the most well known being the former mayor of Cordova.


Thursday May 20th 1993, A suicide note.

“The stress from Exxon which brought about my financial stress, was too much to deal with alone. The end should be good and maybe my spirit will live. I have a lot of fear right now, but faith is all that is left. I wish I could have done more good for others but I guess my time is up.”

This man then put a gun to his head and pulled the trigger, he was the ex mayor, Bob Van Brocklin. He is one of many who have taken their lives since the disaster.

Okay this current spill isn’t an oil tanker running aground, it isn’t about the ship being double hulled, it isn’t about compensation (at the moment but law suits are already being filed).

It is about the current containment and clean up, which is failing. After 20 odd years since the Prince William Sound disaster you would believe governments would have made more stringent controls of these companies. Make them contribute to a special fund that trains specialists in the field of cleaning up spills or capping wells like the current BP one. It is obvious the oil companies themselves cannot do it.

For all the hundreds of billions of profits made each year by these companies, they don’t have the technology or answers to contain such spills, they claim they do but really they don’t. Booms are no good as waves are washing oil over them, tried burning the oil but conditions not favourable and on and on it goes.

How about all oil companies are forced to build a huge simulation plant and different oil scenarios where professional teams made of different nations train and create ways that actually work in oil containment and removal. Okay I am dreaming.

Just let these companies scare the governments, judges, and keep doing what the do best, raping and pillaging the earth and the everyday people. Don’t stand up to them as they are too powerful and will drag you through any legal proceeding they can lasting years and costing millions or billions of dollars.

Then again, why don’t law makers get some balls and put in real laws that would cripple oil companies in a case of negligence, mandatory jail sentences for the executives and anyone else caught lying or trying to cover up the truth.

Have a real judicial system, 18 years for a court case to be finally over is just plain ridiculous. Judges turning other judges decisions over, increasing and then decreasing and increasing amounts is laughable. Most of these judges in such high courts are so out of touch with the real world anyway and live in some make believe land when you see their decisions.

All I can hope for is that this current BP disaster is learnt from and the toughest of measures and laws are implemented after all is learnt from it. What ever environmental disaster takes place and which animals are affected that governments finally grab hold of their balls and say enough is enough. They start making these companies operate under the most stringent of conditions and only if they have proven containment procedures in place.

Oh, the poor share holders will lose some of there premiums, they won’t get such big checks but who really cares about most of these blue bloods anyway. One less dinner at the country club, one less holiday to the Caribbean each year.

So I blame the governments of the world, the law makers who let these greedy pigs of huge companies, not just oil do whatever they need because they are worth so much to the countries in jobs, taxes and of course contributing to election funds.

I will follow this current disaster with interest and the years to come. I hope that the predicted disaster isn’t as bad as they are estimating and that they do somehow contain it and keep it away from the shores. It has already entered the Mississippi River from reports. This could be a tragedy for its ecosystem. By memory oil entered 200 odd rivers in Prince William Sound, devastating the pink salmon eggs and other animals.

Sorry for this long (actually it is very short and brief) post but I just wanted to express my views on this topic.

Brunty