Congressional Record: March 4, 1999 (Senate)
Page S2343
From the Congressional Record Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
SENATOR SLADE GORTON (R-WA) STATEMENT
ON THE EXXON VALDEZ OIL SPILL
AND THE EXXON-MOBIL MERGERMr. GORTON. Mr. President, this month is the 10th anniversary of the infamous Exxon Valdez oilspill. On March 24, 1989, one of Exxon's largest tankers, under the command of a captain who had been drinking and had abandoned the bridge, struck Bligh Reef and spilled 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound.
The Exxon Valdez oilspill remains the largest man-made environmental disaster in American history. The oil spread almost 600 miles, harming wildlife, closing fisheries, and damaging the subsistence way of life of Alaska Natives living in the region. To its credit, Exxon spent as much as $2-3 billion trying to rectify the effects of the spill, but much damage remains.
The spill brought home to all of us in the Pacific Northwest a deeper appreciation for the importance of preventing oilspills. Clean water, a vibrant fishery, and abundant wildlife are all parts of our Northwest way of life, and they are all at risk to oilspills.
In Commerce Committee hearings shortly after the spill, I told the Exxon CEO that a Japanese CEO would have been expected to resign after such a calamity. I said this not to be unkind, but because of my strongly-held view that oilspills caused by a company's reckless conduct cannot be tolerated.
It is now 10 years later, and Exxon is ready to move on. It has announced its intention to merge with Mobil, creating the largest corporation in the world, with annual revenues of over $180 billion.
The federal government is in the process of reviewing this proposed merger. I object to the merger of Exxon and Mobil unless Exxon first resolves some important unfinished business resulting from the 1989 spill. That unfinished business is the litigation brought by the tens of thousands of fishermen, small business owners, and Alaska Natives who were harmed by the spill.
About 6,500 of these people live in Washington State. They, too, would like to move on with their lives, but they can't. They have been waiting ten years since the spill, and almost five years since a federal jury determined that Exxon should pay them over $5 billion.
They will be waiting a lot longer if Exxon has its way. Every year of delay is worth about $400 million to Exxon, the difference between the 6 percent interest rate on the $5 billion judgment and Exxon's own rate of return of about 14 percent on the same $5 billion. If this case drags on long enough, Exxon will be able to pay most of the jury verdict out of money that it made solely because of the delay in paying the judgment.
Exxon has appealed the jury verdict, raising a number of issues. This is to be expected in a case involving this much money. But while this case crawls through our court system, the victims are left waiting for closure to a horrible event that changed their lives forever, and they are waiting for a sense that justice has been done. We need to find a way to meet these perfectly understandable human needs. Exxon has the power and resources to make that happen.
We need to send the strongest possible message to Exxon and other oil companies: you use our waterways to transport your product, and you know the consequences if your product spills, so it is your duty to take every precaution. If you act recklessly, you will pay dearly.
That message is fading after 10 years, and will be largely lost after a merger of these proportions. Now, before the merger, we have an opportunity to make an indelible impression on what would be the largest corporation on Earth--that an oilspill like this must never happen again.
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