The Day that Justice Died..

June 26, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 4 Comments

Stunned. Outraged. Bewildered. Sickened. Saddened. Hurt. These are just some of responses in Alaska to the news that the US Supreme Court had slashed punitive damages against Exxon for the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill from $2.5 billion to $500 million. Meanwhile the champagne corks will have been popping at Exxon’s HQ, after it was ordered … Read More

Exxon Valdez: “Its time for closure”

February 26, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

When the Exxon Valdez ploughed into Bligh Reef in 1989 causing one of the greatest environmental crimes of the last century, I remember someone saying “lawyers not yet born will work on this one”. And so that prediction has nearly come to pass. Five years after the spill a federal jury in Alaska ordered Exxon … Read More

South Korea: Thousands Demand Oil Spill Compensation

January 23, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

Thousands of people hit by South Korea’s worst oil spill have staged a protest rally in central Seoul to demand swift compensation. Some 3000 marine farmers and other residents dramatised their plight by displaying oil-coated oysters, fish, anchovies and seaweed.

French Court Fines Total for 1999 Spill

January 17, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

In a ruling that could set a precedent for responsibility in maritime pollution, a French court ruled yesterday that the oil company Total was partly liable for the vast spill in 1999 from the tanker Erika, that blackened the Brittany coast with fuel oil even though the company did not own the ship. The court … Read More

A young fisherman kills himself in despair…

January 16, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

The world’s media may have moved on for the site of another oil spill, and the beaches may be clean on the surface, but a month after South Korea’s worst oil spill, residents are struggling to pick up their shattered lives. Last week a young fisherman Lee Young-kwon killed himself by drinking pesticide in despair … Read More

LNG Tankers Vulnerable to Terror Attack

January 10, 2008By Andy RowellBlog Post

A report by US watch-dog, the Government Accountability Office has concluded that the Coast Guard lacks the resources to adequately protect tankers carrying liquefied petroleum or crude oil from a possible terrorist attack. The report concluded that the Coast Guard is stretched too thin in some cases “to meet its own self-imposed security standards such … Read More

Exxon’s Xmas Gift to Alaska

December 21, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post 1 Comment

Happy Christmas Alaska. Exxon’s present to those desperate for compensation from the Exxon Valdez oil spill is its new defence in the U.S. Supreme Court that the $2.5 billion verdict the company was ordered to pay conflicts with more than 200 years of maritime law. Exxon is now arguing that trial and appellate courts erred … Read More

Another Oil Spill – This Time in Indonesia

December 19, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

This is getting silly. There has been yet another oil spill. Rescuers are trying to contain an oil slick from a small tanker that capsized at a port in central Indonesia yesterday, after it was loaded up with more than 4,000 barrels of fuel. It is not immediately clear how much oil had leaked from … Read More

Iraq Launches 1st Tanker in 27 Years

December 18, 2007By Andy RowellBlog Post

Are the Iraqis gearing up for a major oil export drive? They have just launched their first new ship in 27 years and delivery of two more tankers is expected within three months. The Dijlah — the name for the Tigris River in Arabic — was inaugurated in the southern port city of Basra on … Read More