Cordova’s Long Wait for Justice
Cordova, Alaska – In Washington the Supreme Court is due to give the final verdict any time now in one of the longest-running legal battles in US history. It is a contest which has pitted the people of a small Alaskan town against the might of the largest commercial corporation on Earth.
It has been a long time since the Alaskan fishing town of Cordova could claim to be the “Razor Clam Capital of the World”.
Mind you it took the second biggest earthquake ever recorded - 9.2 on the Richter Scale - to knock it off its seafood pedestal, heaving its revered clam beds out of the sea and depositing them on dry land.
ordova.
Out at sea, a super-tanker miles off course after dodging icebergs in the night, hit a reef.
Holed, the fully-loaded tanker began to gush 11 million gallons of North Slope Alaskan crude from her side.
The tanker was - of course - the Exxon Valdez and what followed was the daddy of all tanker disasters.
Exxon Valdez became a rallying cry for environmentalists; a distillation of all the most obnoxious excesses which fallible, culpable, insatiable human beings can inflict on innocent nature.
Record award
And for many of the people in Cordova it became an unwanted obsession.
Five years after the disaster a court in Anchorage found in favour of more than 32,000 plaintiffs - many of them from places like Cordova - who had brought a joint action for punitive damages against the tanker’s owners Exxon Mobil.
In a nutshell, the plaintiffs had argued that the oil spill had wrecked the fishing industry which underpinned the entire local economy and had effectively destroyed their livelihoods.
The award was a record $5bn.
Payout halted
But none of the plaintiffs has received a cent because for the past 14 years Exxon Mobil has been appealing.
Over the course of those appeals $5bn has been whittled down to $2.5bn.
Inflation has eaten into the value of what is left and around 20% of the original plaintiffs have died.
Now it is the turn of the Supreme Court in Washington to have the final say. Will it be $2.5bn or will it be nothing?
There are many people in Cordova hoping and praying right now.
Cash in hand
In 1989 there were eager young families anticipating good times who had invested in fishing boats, nets and trailers, only to see them mothballed after the spill.
Young families no longer, their eagerness has gone. Nineteen years is a long time to be kept waiting while lawyers make their arguments and take their cuts.
As one old salt told me: ” I’d rather have had a few dollars in my pocket all my life, than have a heap of money just as I’m about to check into the old folks’ home.”
People in Cordova have grown disillusioned with the system and they are sceptical now that the long wait will have been worth it.
For many, the past 19 years has been a rollercoaster of expectations raised then dashed.
Centenary celebrations
They have been strapped in for the ride - unable to get off, but now it is making them sick. They want it to end.
It would be easy to characterise a place like Cordova as somewhere just waiting for its pay cheque.
But this is not a place full of people with fingers crossed - like lottery obsessives. Nor is it a town of victims.
Cordovans are - for the most part - open, hospitable, good-humoured and above all, fiercely self-reliant.
The town - which calls itself a city, but is really only a village in an area about as close to the middle of nowhere as you can get - celebrates its centenary this year.
American beauty
It is not getting carried away.
The official blurb from the chamber of commerce warns would-be visitors: “Cordova may not be for everyone.”
Indeed the security man who checked my ticket at the airport in Anchorage, Alaska’s main city, looked me over incredulously and yelled: “Cordova - why?”
Well one reason why is that Cordova, tucked away on its fjord and hemmed in by saw-toothed, snow-clad mountains is jaw-droppingly beautiful.
On the town’s main street stands a building which is also celebrating its 100th birthday this year.
The Alaskan Bar and Hotel looks and feels like something from the pioneer days.
For many people who come here - and for all its not so good Fridays - Cordova is a place which feels like home
Its sign is upside down - reputedly as an easy-reading aid for customers who may have fallen over outside having consumed too much while inside.
Behind the long rough wooden bar which seems to drift off into infinity a young lady with a southern drawl that is maybe Alabama but certainly is not Alaska tells me she came to Cordova following the man of her dreams.
Either the dreams or the man did not work out, but she stayed nonetheless. Why?
“I guess I’m scared of flying,” she said.
For many people who come here - and for all its not so good Fridays - Cordova is a place which feels like home.
And a place which wants to get on with its life.
© BBC MMVIII
Exxon/Mobil is getting away with murder in the offense the Valdez has brought to the Alaskan people. Corruption, corruption and more corruption. The real winners are the lawyers!
I didn’t like the author’s insertion of that little dig that the lawyers “take their cuts,” and you can see the result in the post above by nicnews.
the plaintiffs’ lawyers have been working to fight Exxon’s appeal of the $5 billion punitive damage award for the past fourteen years, without being paid a dime. If the Supreme Court rules against the Alaska fishermen and Natives, the lawyers will have worked fourteen years for free.
Exxon and their Washington DC enablers are the villains here, not the plaintiffs lawyers.
After its all said and done the people of Cordova, natives and Non-Natives, will find the future generations have lost a great amount of subsistence lifestyle.
No one will be able to pay for the loss of accumulated knowledge that is passed down by hunting and gathering. All it takes is a small gap of time for traditions to be discontinued.
When the Kiroshima and Selendang Ayu oil spills occured in our waters of Unalaska we knew that, having already been going farther and farther from town for our subsistence foods because of local pollutants, it would become impossible to have to go even farther.
Hey you progressives out there. What’s happening to Cordova is happening to all of “us”
right now. What’s needed is a revolution which Jefferson concluded was neccessary on
a regular basis. Revolution requires sacrifice, usually paid in the capital consisting of the
lives of our young men. We could do it the democratic way but that would require the putting
aside of our individual differences and many here are way too stubborn to do that. They’ll
sink the ship in support of their righteousness. And these folks might as well be Bush
apologists. Bush supporters. Cause the likes of Bush couldn’t survive without them.
Those who would vote for ralph nader this coming november. Your moment of triumph, your
moment of self righteous anger satisfied, will be paid for by four, maybe eight years of John
McCain who is bush lite and a lover of fascism. Want a just say no moment. Okay. Just say no
to fascism. People power, not corporate/state/religious/political power.,
It is time to come together if ever there was a time. It is now people. Change will not happen
until it happens at the bottom which feeds the top. Live simply. Unplug your TV. Reject dishonesty
and deceit. Write the Obama campaign and tell them “no mercenaries in Iraq, or the US.”
Work the system by being involved and it will work for us.
The murdered and maimed of Bhopal are still awaiting compensation. It seems that those American Values of cruelty and avrice got in the way.
John D. Rockefeller if he were alive today, would be so proud of his company, the ruthless man he was.
So what happens now, when the BushCo loaded corporate favoring court rules against ‘the people’ yet another time? or tries to low-ball/reduce a justified award?
Can Congress over-rule the SCOTUS? Why not? After all, presidential signing statements can over-rule Congress.
What’s good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?
There was an interview on NPR this morning with the “river keeper” for that area or “sound”. She stated the reason Exxon keeps fighting this, even though it could write a check on the spot, is precedent.
There will be other spills and accidents, and they want to limit future liability even more than avoiding paying punitive damages and compensation for this one. That’s a natural reaction, but their position is wrong. Exxon was negligent through its alcoholic Captain weaving that tanker too fast. They should pay for this incident and any other damage they cause in the future.
Just endure I guess while greed consumes itself. Sad tale.
bbr, Captain Hazelwood wasn’t driving the boat. He was drunk in his cabin and his third mate Greg Cousins was on the bridge during a critical time navigating icebergs and reefs. Hazelwood immediately disappeared for three days so no breath test, although it was later acknowledged in court that prior to boarding he had had three drinks.
I believe that there should be breathalyzer tests for pilots, requirements that captains be on the bridge during critical times such as departures, arrivals and navigating reefs, and most of all, laws that all tankers entering US waters (ideally worldwide) be double hulled. We wouldn’t have these spills if they were double hulled. It’s all about money. This, from corporations that are making obscene profits but won’t spend what is small change from them to safeguard the environment. So how much have they spent on lawsuits fending off paying for destroying the environment and local economies compared to paying for double hulled tankers? Perhaps for them it’s the principle. If they give in on double hulls, who knows what we will be demanding from them next?
The irony is that if we weren’t buying their oil, they wouldn’t have any money.
kathyodat
The air is thick with greed in America. It may not have originated here but it has definitely taken hold. This example shouldn’t take a supreme court to determine what responsibilities are necessary and vital to people and where they live. Greed is all around and the solution is not to cap and trade greed, give things greed taxes, or greed credits…that is not going to work. It is a sick idea by sick people.
BeFor Kids:
Thanks for getting my story atraight. Drunk captain on duty or unqualified mate, it doesn’t matter. Its Exxon’s responsibility. Great point about the double hulls. They make so much money but squeeze every nickel.
They would not be getting away with this had we voted, long ago, for a President Nader.
But no, we had to vote for one of the two corporate parties.
Keep voting like that, folks, and even bigger tragedies will happen.
You don’t have to have psychic powers to know in whose favor this Supreme Court will rule.
It is these phantom persons called corporations who have all the rights.
Yes, Exxon Mobil IS getting away with murder !
The Valdez horror is yet another example why a boycott of Exxon products is in order considering their history of illegitimate corporate enterprise. They have become a threat to society and global stability rather than an asset. They are not only attacking the environment, but innocent people as well.
The continued occupation of Iraq is for the purpose of allowing corporations like Exxon Mobil to “privatize” (meaning steal) Iraq’s oil. This has become state sponsored murder funded by public debt to sustain private profit.
In short, the illegal and unconstitutional invasion and occupation of Iraq is a corporate inspired war crime. The military complex, oil industry and corporate media have merged.
And, keep in mind that the McCain plan for Iraq is a 100 year occupation. And there are many others with the same agenda.
To date the five year occupation has cost taxpayers $3 Trillion+. Over the next century that plan will cost the taxpayer $60 trillion and interest. With the estimated reserves of Iraq worth about $10 Trillion, the plan is more or less an insane and criminal corporate subsidy.
Yet, better than a boycott, we should simply nationalize energy industries and run them like a lawful public utility for the public good.
Do we really need the overhead of CEO’s who are paid $400 million in salary while promoting global warming ? Do we need campaign donations and lobbyists from Big Oil corrupting Congress. Do we need people in the Whitehouse with investments in the oil industry as well as the military complex ?
Influence from the oil industries has contributed to the creation of a fascist imperial government in violation of the Constitution and all essential principles of our democratic republic.