Senators Ask Exxon to Pay Up, Please

A bipartisan group of two dozen senators have asked Exxon to expedite paying or negotiating a settlement of the $4.5 billion punitive damage award arising from the 1989 oil spill from the Valdez ship.

“Unfortunately your corporation has chosen a legal strategy of delay and appeal,” the senators wrote. “Your lawyers have filed hundreds of motions and over a dozen appeals, while the fishermen and impacted communities continue to suffer from the aftermath of the tragedy.”

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An Exxon spokesman said the company isn’t stalling, just pursuing the case in court as allowed by law.

Dave Gardner, Exxon’s media relations adviser, said the company has already paid $3.5 billion in clean-up costs, compensation to spill victims and settlements.

“We believe that all damages have been paid. … The ongoing case is about whether further punishment is warranted, not whether any plaintiff is entitled to money for losses that were incurred,” he said in an e-mail from Exxon headquarters in Irving, Texas.