not all anniversaries are good anniversaries

On march 24, 1989 the oil tanker Exxon Valdex left the port of Valdez with an overworked crew, an alcoholic master, and a broken radar system. Only three hours after the departure, the vessel struck Bligh reef and spilled 10.8 million gallons (40 million litres) of crude oil into the Prince William Sound. The spill covered 11,000 square miles (28,000 km2) of ocean, killing hundreds of thousands of animals. NOAA estimated in 2007 that more 26,000 gallons (98,000 litres) remains in the sandy soil surrounding the spill area, continuing to contaminate the shoreline.

In 1994, an Alaskan jury convicted Exxon, ordered the company to pay $287 million for actual damages, and one year's worth of profits ($5 billion) for punitive damages. Exxon appealed multiple times managing each time to reduce the amount. In June, 2008, the Supreme court ruled that punitive damages were excessive, returned the case to a lower court, and limited the amount to $507.5 million. Exxon continues to argue that any amount over $25 million is excessive since the spill was "an accident". (You do the math: when divided between the 30 000 plaintiffs this amount becomes ridiculous compensation for lost livelihoods.) In comparison, when Lee Raymond, the president of Exxon at the time of the spill, retired in 2006, he was awarded a $400 million as a bonus.

Here's to this sad anniversary.