1 + 1 = 2 or does it?

For many Alaskans, memories of the ill fated Exxon Valdez disaster that happened way back in 1989 remains as grave today as it was way on that 24th day of May in 1989. That episode in Alaska's history has lead to countless livelihoods destroyed, families torn apart, marriages turned into divorces and feeling of helplessness that end in suicides.

But as discouraging as it was, the long wait for some sort of legal justice for the worst oil spill in U.S. history remains as another hopeless prayer by those left behind after one of Americas worst disasters in her short history. If a careless act that caused a spill of 11 million gallons of crude oil and the contamination of some 1,300 miles of what was once pristine wilderness coastline is not enough, watching the responsible company turn a legal system against the people it was intended to protect has been and remains horrifying.

It's now been over 19 years since the Exxon Valdez left Valdez on her journey that ended atop Bligh Reef. 11 million gallons of crude oil filled with toxic minerals and chemicals began flowing into the rich fishing waters of Prince William Sound all but shutting down the main industries of the region for years to come.

Now the people of Alaska anxiously await as the U.S. Supreme Court decides on whether Exxon should or should not have to pay punitive damages to the remaining people affected during this disaster at all. This case, Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, 07-219, still goes on today.

What we need to look at in the above text would be as to where this case is stalled at in the courts today. Exxon’s principal and leading argument lies in whether the company should have to pay any damages under the Current Federal Clean Water Act at all and is backing it up with numerous centuries-old laws that remain on the books governing shipping. It is the generalized wording and broad spectrum of the documents that is being used against Alaska’s people by the legal defense hired by Exxon.

Alaska Clean Water Initiative

Alaska’s new Clean Water Initiative addresses these issues and more setting positive guidelines purposely written with great clarity in order to protect our natural resources, critical wildlife habitat, subsistence lifestyles, and your Threatened Alaskan Inheritance for generations to come. This act has come under fire recently by the same entities that want to roll through Alaska scraping away your minerals by leaning on these same outdated documents as Exxon has used to keep from paying the people of Alaska for their mistakes before, during and after the ill fated May 24th 1989 grounding of the tanker Exxon Valdez.

I’m no lawyer, nor am I a plaintiff in the Exxon case, who I am is a concerned citizen, a father, an outdoorsman, and an Alaskan that is frightened by the misleading information being spread about with the 14 million dollars being put up to defeat this bill and influence us Alaskan residents to accept their word as the truth without passing legislation or law that would hold them liable if the worst case scenario should occur. What is Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. planning to do with the $14 million it plans to spend?

Mining your minerals and tearing up the land pays just 0.07% in taxes to the people of the state and can not be compared to the oil and fishing industries that leave little in scars upon the earth for removing them yet pay a 22.5% tax rate on a "net" positive cash flow or "Production Tax Value" Progressivity. A higher tax rate of 25% kicks in when oil sells for more than $55 per barrel. This revenue is paid to the Alaskans that actually own the resources. And yet neither oil and gas nor commercial fishing leave behind the mess that mining does, not to mention the permanent scars on the lands. Between 25% or 50% of the royalty collected from state leases is deposited in the Permanent Fund, the remainder goes to the General Fund and the School Fund.

"The environment in Prince William Sound is healthy, robust and thriving," Exxon spokesman Tony Cudmore said in an e-mail to The Associated Press in 2008. "That's the conclusion of many scientists who have done extensive studies of the Prince William Sound ecosystem."

An estimated 85 tons of crude linger, according to a federal study released last year. Jars of oil-stained sand and rocks still being dug up in the spill area can be examined at the Prince William Sound Science Center located in Cordova.

Reports of stress and depression directly linked to the loss of jobs for fishermen and the damage to the environment crucial to the lives of Coastal Alaska Natives who hunt and fish for their food began shortly after the spill and the stress increased over time as the court battle with Exxon has been drawn-out.

Nearly 20 percent of the 33,000 fishermen, Native Alaskans, cannery workers and others who were awarded in the Exxon Case have since passed away before ever seeing their livelihoods restored.

The Pebble Mine project is located on land owned by the State of Alaska. Northern Dynasty Minerals Ltd. of Vancouver, Canada, developer of the Pebble Mine, holds 153 square miles of state land for mining claims within the Bristol Bay Watershed.
Sponsor: Anchorage Salmon Fishing