Rou

Let me take you back. The year is 1989. The place is Prince William Sound Alaska.

The Exxon Valdez tanker ran aground and spilled around 10 million gallons of crude oil all over the place. The immediate effect of it was the death of thousands of animals and the destruction of an entire area of an ecosystem. The long term effects are still being cataloged today as populations have not returned to pre-spill levels and a large number of birth defects have been reported.

Of course, they were taken to court. Originally, they were ordered to pay up 4.5 BILLION dollars as a penalty for the spill. However, early last year, it was reduced down to 2.5 billion. Less, but still not exactly a slap on the wrist.

Here's the good part... they're still refusing to pay. It's been 18 fucking years. They say that since they've already spent 3 billion dollars. Some of it on actual cleanup costs and some of it defending itself from federal and state fines and lawsuits. Because they've already spent so much, they don't think they should be fined additional money.

This is made worse because they took the oil loss and cleanup costs as a tax deduction. And their insurance reimbursed them for the cleanup costs. And for a kicker, they set aside 5 billion dollars in 1989 to pay for their fines. Good idea. But it's been earning interest since then. Estimates say that money has nearly doubled since it was set aside.

So here's my little fuck you to Exxon. You see, you're supposed to pay for cleanup. That's part of the gig. You're also supposed to pay for your own court costs (unless you're innocent which clearly you're not). A fine is a penalty. Punitive means exactly that. It's the cost on TOP of all those other costs. It's the government telling you that you were a bad boy and here's your punishment. The fact that you haven't really suffered for your negligence makes it worse.

You did the deed.

Now pay the man.