Word: spills
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...amount of money could ever fully compensate for the havoc wreaked by the Valdez spill, but the record $1.025 billion in fines and damages imposed on Exxon by a federal judge last October should have provided the state and federal governments with an extraordinary opportunity to take further protective measures, assess remaining problems and mollify resentful citizens. Instead, the deal has touched off a chorus of outrage from residents and environmentalists, who wanted a minimum of $2 billion, and has ignited a fierce debate over how best to spend the sum. Says biologist Rick Steiner of the University of Alaska...
Unfortunately for Alaska, the windfall is far less than it seems. After deducting the sums owed to federal and state governments for past cleanup, litigation expenses and damage assessment, Alaska can expect just $635 million. How to spend it is the official business of the six-member oil spill trustee council, which includes the Alaska attorney general along with representatives from two state and three federal departments. The body has already come under fire. Alaskans claim that Washington's representatives are watching out for the Bush Administration's interests and that the council is unreceptive to the views...
...used to buy and preserve 202,000 hectares (500,000 acres) of prime fish and wildlife habitat, either by purchasing the land outright or by buying up the rights to exploit its resources. The advocates argue that since little more can be done to restore areas damaged by the spill, protecting the region's ecosystem from further harm is the next best option. Much of the land is privately held old- growth forest already marked for logging -- some of it, thanks to the state's complex land-allotment system, actually inside state and national parks, including Kenai Fjords National Park...
...advantages of habitat acquisition are manifold. Old-growth forests provide nesting sites for some of the bird species harmed by the spill. Watersheds and upland forests offer food and breeding areas for mink and river otter as well as salmon and other fish. Protecting prime habitat from logging and development will also benefit hunters, fishermen, kayakers, hikers and the growing tourist industry...
Also competing for funds is the Kodiak Restoration Committee, a partnership of native groups, fishermen, businesses and government agencies in the Kodiak Island Borough, a 51,800-sq-km (20,000 sq. mi.) district at the southernmost point of the Valdez spill zone. While the borough's wildlife escaped serious damage, its all-important fishing industry suffered mightily. "Domestic violence and divorces soared, and visits to mental-health services almost doubled," says borough Mayor Jerome Selby. "We're never going to be able to mend the social fabric of the community." The borough wants $280 million to create nature preserves...