
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 13, 1991                   TAG: 9103130379
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

EXXON, U.S. REACH SPILL TERMS/ CORPORATION ADMITS CRIME IN ALASKAN OIL

Exxon Corp. agreed early today to acknowledge criminal responsibility and pay a $100 million fine as part of a $1.1 billion agreement with the federal and Alaskan governments to settle civil and criminal charges stemming from the nation's worst oil tanker spill, according to informed sources.

The settlement, by far the largest for environmental damage in the United States, apparently dealt with one of five federal criminal charges filed against the company and its shipping subsidiary, the sources said. Exxon faced two felony and three misdemeanor charges related to the spill.

Trial on the criminal charges was to begin April 10 in U.S. District Court in Anchorage.

Half of the criminal fine and most of the $1 billion in civil damages to be paid over 10 years would be used to restore the fragile Alaskan shoreline after the ecological havoc caused when the tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground on a marked reef March 24, 1989. Nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil gushed into Prince William Sound, spreading for miles.

Under the settlement signed here, Exxon is obligated to pay another $100 million if significant environmental problems can be traced to the spill after the 10-year payment period.

Negotiators reached basic terms of the settlement days ago, but U.S. District Court Judge Stanley Sporkin barred final agreement until he heard arguments here Monday by five native Alaskan villages seeking to protect their rights to pursue damages separate from the government agreement.

Tuesday, Sporkin lifted his ban after warning government attorneys not to trample on the villagers' legal rights.

The settlement was signed shortly after midnight at the Justice Department. Walter Hickel, who took office as Alaska's governor last December and has been representing the state in negotiations here, said the settlement terms are "in the best interests" of Alaskans.

But environmentalists and some Alaskans criticized the agreement for failing to provide enough money and specifically target its use for environmental restoration. Michael Hausfeld, an attorney who represented the native Alaskan villages in the hearing before Sporkin, said the two governments should have held out for an "open-ended" settlement in which Exxon agreed to pay whatever is necessary to restore ecological damage related to the spill.

Exxon has spent $2 billion on the cleanup, leaving shorelines almost free of oil, but authorities have barely begun to calculate damage to wildlife.

by CNB