The anniversary of a disaster

Fortunately for my readers, I'm not talking about my personal life.

Last week was the 20th anniversary of the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the Prince William Sound in Alaska. The spill devastated sea life, wildlife, the environment and the economy spanning all the way to Seattle.

"The massive spill stretched 1,200 miles from the accident site, and covered 3,200 miles of shoreline and an incredible 10,000 square miles overall."

Ok...so, yes, Exxon spent billions of dollars cleaning up the 'accident' (accident allegedly caused by a drunk employee) and plaintiffs were awarded millions of dollars in damages but...that doesn't mean that Exxon has actually PAID!

"This economic disruption is one basis of legal action against ExxonMobil, the biggest oil corporation in the world. Complex litigation has dragged on for two decades, and ExxonMobil is winning. There are 22,000 plaintiffs suing ExxonMobil. A jury awarded the plaintiffs $5 billion in damages, equal to what was, at the time, a year's worth of Exxon profits. This was cut by half by a U.S. appeals court, then finally lowered to just over $500 million by the Supreme Court. During the 20 years of court battles, 6,000 of the original plaintiffs have died. ExxonMobil, with its billions in annual profits and armies of lawyers, can tie up the Valdez case in the courts for decades, while the injured commercial fishers slowly die off."

So, now that the plaintiffs are dying off and Exxon Mobil still has funds to appeal (obviously...because of our current need for oil)-who do you think will win this battle in the end?

I'd bet my money on Exxon.

Do you know how they're 'able' to do it though? It's because, according to a 19th century Supreme Court decision, corporations have the same rights as individuals. Yet...none of the consequences. Do you ever see corporations going to jail? No...just (and not often) monetary fines (which they can write off on their taxes). But not often will they be expected to pay because they can afford to fight their battles in court without worrying about the cost of attorneys (unlike most citizens). So...how do we fix this? We make it known to our senators, our representatives and community organizers that this is NOT ok!

Maybe the current fallout from the AIG 'scandal' would be something we'd look forward to if corporations were responsible for their actions...just like we are.

My reference here.