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ScienceDaily (May 18, 2009) — Twenty years ago, the oil tanker Exxon Valdez was exiting Alaska's Prince William Sound when it struck a reef in the middle of the night. What happened next is considered one of the nation's worst environmental disasters: 10.8 million gallons of crude oil spilled into the pristine Alaskan waters, eventually covering 11,000 square miles of ocean. Now, imagine 8 to 80 times the amount of oil spilled in the Exxon Valdez accident. According to new research by scientists from UC Santa Barbara and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), that's how much oil has made...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Supreme Court, in a fractured ruling, said punitive damages are allowed in a lawsuit over the 1989 Valdez oil spill but that lower courts should reduce the $2.5 billion award. Justice David Souter, in the court's majority opinion, said the punitive damages award should be brought into line with $287 million in compensatory damages awarded against Exxon in the lawsuit. "The award here should be limited to an amount equal to compensatory damages," Souter wrote. The high court otherwise split evenly 4-4 on an important maritime law question in the case but concluded that federal...

An Al-Qaeda suicide plot to hijack several passenger jets simultaneously — including a British Airways flight — and crash them into high-profile American targets has been uncovered by the security services. The American capital and nuclear power stations on the country’s East Coast are said to have been among the terrorists’ potential targets. The September 11-style plot explains the grounding of 10 US-bound flights across the world over the seasonal break. According to a senior intelligence source, an informant tipped off authorities the weekend before Christmas. He claimed that Islamic extremists intended to hijack flights operated by BA, Air France...

U.S. COURT CUTS EXXON VALDEZ PUNITIVE DAMAGES TO $2.5 BLN FROM $4.5 BLN

-snip- Robinson explains that before they left the area his team convinced Alaska state authorities to set up nine locations that were not cleaned up, so they could monitor whatever long-term improvements were observed. “For a period of years,” John says, “those locations [that were left alone] were in much better shape than the locations that had been aggressively cleaned up. “The very aggressive way we went about it - I have to fault myself on this, because I’m the one that directed it, turned out to be a much more serious problem than the oil was. We were killing...

Okay, Tony Valdez is on now. Tune in and make comments. He has on three viewers who made comments on his phone line. Hey, he didn't call me back.

ORIGINAL THREAD John and Ken have just read an email that was received by a KFI listener from KTTV. Apparently, KTTV has been bombarded with complaints about the racist comments made by newscaster Tony Valdez --- "You took this country. You killed people to take this country for yourselves." According to the email, Valdez will apologize on his Sunday television show. In Los Angeles, it is at 9am on channel 11 following FOX NEWS SUNDAY. After posting the number, I have a feeling that many FReepers made complaints. I left a message on Valdez's machine demanding an apology and...

LISTEN TO JOHN AND KEN ONLINE HERE IS YESTERDAY'S THREAD. KTTV NEWSMAN TONY VALDEZ ATTACKS JOHN AND KEN WITH AZTLAN DIATRIBE. Coming up at 3:30 pm, Pacific, John and Ken will play the entire segment with KTTV from yesterday's Illegal Alien Celebration Day. This has been all over the blogs. Valdez needs to publicly apologize and/or be fired.

Terrorists are threatening to blow up Alaska oil pipelines. Via Foxnews Alert. Fox said they were going to take guns and shoot them?

VALDEZ, Alaska (AP) - This is a busy commercial and sportfishing town, and it normally smells a little ripe in late summer as unharvested pink salmon spawn and then die. But this year, residents and tourists have been holding their noses a little tighter. Millions more pink salmon than expected, most of them born at the local Solomon Gulch hatchery, migrated in from the ocean this season, overwhelming commercial seiners and processing plants.

An ExxonMobil Corp. (NYSE: XOM) spokesman on Wednesday responded to comments made in Alaska's Senate race referencing a punitive damages case resulting from the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The comments stem from criticism embattled Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has received for referring to the spill, which dumped 10.9 million gallons of crude oil into the waters of Prince Puget Sound, as "that little issue." Alaskans are still upset about the spill, and ExxonMobil's continuing efforts to appeal the $4.5 billion in punitive damages for Alaska natives, Cordova fishermen and other harmed Alaskans. A new radio campaign from Murkowski's opponent...

A new radio commercial from Democrat Tony Knowles blasts opponent U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski for a remark she made last week, calling the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound "that little issue." The ad, which started airing statewide Monday, uses a sound bite from a press conference Murkowski held in Washington, D.C. She used an Exxon Mobil gas station as a backdrop for the conference. But when reminded by an aide about Exxon's Alaska oil spill, Murkowski said with a laugh to Sen. George Allen, R-Va., "We've got that little issue, remember?"

© 2004 WorldNetDaily.com The U.S. Coast Guard, responding to elevated threats of terror from the sea – threats first reported in Joseph Farah's G2 Bulletin – has closed one of the world's largest oil tanker terminals on Alaska's south shore. Tanker loading at Valdez, the southern terminus of the trans-Alaska pipeline, was shut off Tuesday night. The facility remains closed indefinitely. The 800-mile pipeline carries 17 percent of the nation's oil supply from the Prudoe Bay oil fields off Alaska's northern slope. Security in the sound area was tightened last week after U.S. officials said the terminals could be a target of...

<p>Valdez tanker port shut down SECURITY: Coast Guard abruptly closes terminal, orders tankers to leave area.</p> <p>A Coast Guard spokesman would only say that the order was part of a "further extension of prudent maritime security measures."</p> <p>Air Force fighter jets, meanwhile, have been flying patrols around Valdez in recent days, and federal authorities have placed restrictions on private planes in a 25-mile radius around the town, home to the sprawling marine terminal at the end of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline.</p>

With the nation on an elevated terror alert, the oil tanker terminal in Valdez, Alaska has been temporarily closed at the request of the U-S Coast Guard. Alyeska Service Pipeline Company spokesman Mike Heatwole says tanker loading was suspended Tuesday night and remained closed yesterday. Tankers load Prudhoe Bay oil destined for Valdez, the end of the 800-mile pipeline, which carries 17 percent of the nation's domestic oil supply. Last week, security was beefed up in the Prince William Sound community after federal officials said al-Qaida operatives could target remote sites such as oil facilities in Alaska. Officials also said...

<p>MEXICO CITY (AP) - A former Mexican consul to Lebanon has been arrested on charges of helping a smuggling ring move Arab migrants into the United States from Mexico, federal agents said Thursday. Imelda Ortiz, detained late Wednesday in Mexico City, is the fourth alleged member of the ring captured in three days.</p>

Friday December 6, 9:55 pm ET IRVING, Texas (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, said on Friday a federal court in Alaska has decided it should pay $4 billion in punitive damages for the Exxon Valdez oil spill. Exxon Mobil, which argues that it should pay no more than $40 million for the 1989 tanker accident, said it planned to appeal the order. The decision was handed down by the federal court in Anchorage and reduced to $4 billion from $5 billion the amount of punitive damages awarded last year in connection with...