Valdez Wreck — in so many ways
Posted by Jim on Sunday, February 24th, 2008
From Washington Post (US):
“When a federal jury in Alaska in 1994 ordered Exxon to pay $5 billion to thousands of people who had their lives disrupted by the massive Exxon Valdez oil spill, an appeal of the nation’s largest punitive damages award was inevitable. But almost no one could have predicted the incredible round of legal ping-pong that only this month lands at the Supreme Court.”
The title of this Feb. 23, 08 article is “Exxon Oil Spill Case May Get Closure”
“Closure”? The concept of closure cuts agains the grain of the rest of this story. There WILL NOT BE closure for the 6,000 claimants’ for the original lawsuit who are DEAD.
Well, maybe they got closure FIRST as death is the ultimate closure…
And what about the wildlife, dead; current ecosystem, damaged, what can the Justices in the Supreme Court do about that? One Justice in fact, Samuel Alito OWNS stock in Exxon Mobil — he’s recused himself from the case.
Closure, my ass.
While Rome burns, oil companies fiddle w/ the largest profit margins imaginable. Remember this story from Feb. 2007: “HOUSTON (AP) - Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. on Thursday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company—$39.5 billion—even as earnings for the last quarter of 2006 declined 4 percent.” Here’s that full story on Exxon profit.
Then there’s the Feb. 2008 story: NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Exxon Mobil made history on Friday by reporting the highest quarterly and annual profits ever for a U.S. company, boosted in large part by soaring crude prices. Exxon, the world’s largest publicly traded oil company, said fourth-quarter net income rose 14% to $11.66 billion, or $2.13 per share. The company earned $10.25 billion, or $1.76 per share, in the year-ago period.” Here’s the story on Exxon’s 2007 profit
Exxon Mobil — and other oil companies — Total, Chevron, Dutch Royal Shell, BP, etc. — all are making HUGE amounts of money while people like you and I are scratching our heads at the pump and when our bills come in the mail.
At least we’re not eating dirt like the Haitians, eh?
And we’re not the family members of a dead fisherman in Prince William Sound.
What politician will have the mettle to tax these oil giants’ profits? And who will hold these giants truly accountable for environmental damage done w/ oil spills and pipeline leaks. And when will we stop participating in this travesty by thoroughly revolutionizing how we interact with automobiles?
Jim
Tags: Chevron, Dutch Royal Shell, Exxon Mobil, oil profits, Prince William Sound, Samuel Alito, stupidity, Supreme Court, Total, Valdez