Sierra Club in San Francisco federal court Friday to demand ExxonMobile pay Valdez damages

February 7, 2006

(BUSINESS WIRE)--On Friday, Alaska's fishermen will come to San Francisco to demand that the company pays its fair share.

Despite record profits, the world's largest oil company has yet to pay a single penny in the damages they owe to the Alaska fishermen whose livelihoods were destroyed by the 1989 Valdez oil spill.

The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals will hear oral arguments about whether the 30,000 plaintiffs affected by the spill will get the $4.5 billion in punitive damages that was awarded to them -- but never paid. Around 3000 plaintiffs have died while waiting sixteen years for ExxonMobil to pay punitive damages which amount to small change for the company. This debate precedes what is expected to be a record-breaking annual profit, to be announced by ExxonMobil next week.

The emotional story of the Prince William Sound fishermen whose lives Exxon changed forever will be told February 9 at 8:30 PM EST/PST in the newest episode of Sierra Club Chronicles on Link TV. "The Day the Water Died" describes the largest oil tanker spill in American history -- and how Exxon falsely promised they would pay for the damage. Sixteen years later, local communities are still waiting for their lives to become "whole" again. The full episode will be available for viewing and download for iPods at http://www.sierraclubtv.org/.

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