Exxon admitted it had spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, but it didn’t believe the mistake warranted punitive damages. 

In this final episode of Slick Science, we learn how corporations like Exxon fight back with research they fund.

Host Gordon Katic digs through the notes of an environmental sociologist who worked on Exxon-funded research. 

We also hear perspectives from Exxon-funded research arguing against juries, especially in the context of punitive damages. 

With a better understanding of corporations and their hand in academia, the shocking final verdict on the Exxon Valdez oil spill starts to make sense.

Slick Science: The toxic legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is a collaboration between Cited Podcast and Canada’s National Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Last time on Slick Science, we heard first-hand accounts of life after a monumental oil spill. But what happens after marine life dies and beaches are left covered with oil? Who is responsible for footing the cleanup bill? How much? And who decides? 

In this episode, we get to be a fly on the wall of a courtroom where 12 ordinary Alaskans learn why a tanker the size of three football fields crashed and decide whether to punish Exxon for spilling millions of gallons of oil in Prince William Sound.

As jurors and lawyers navigate the trial, questions are raised about the wisdom of having a jury hear this kind of case. Jurors aren’t experts and don’t have the scientific or economic expertise to muddle through something so big. So why would they be asked to decide this outcome?

Slick Science: The toxic legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is a collaboration between Cited Podcast and Canada’s National Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The city of Valdez, Alaska, is nestled in a deep fjord surrounded by mountains. Tourists come to the area to see the glaciers, fish in the cold mountain-fed water and visit the ice caves. The city is also a hub for oil tankers who come up the long fjord to the marine terminal to fill cargo tanks bigger than cathedrals with oil from the Trans-Alaska pipeline.   

On March 23rd, 1989, a big new tanker owned by the oil giant Exxon was in one of the loading berths at the terminal. Getting into the terminal and filling the cargo tanks takes a full day. At nine p.m., the tanker, carrying more than a million barrels of oil, pulled away from the berth and headed to Long Beach, California. 

For an oil tanker, it was a pretty ordinary journey down the fjord through Prince Edward Sound to the Pacific Ocean. It had been done more than 8,000 times since oil began flowing through the Trans-Alaska pipeline.  

But this time, just three hours after leaving the marine terminal, the Exxon Valdez oil tanker got into trouble. This trouble would forever change the lives of the hundreds of residents of Prince William Sound. 

Slick Science: The toxic legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is a collaboration between Cited Podcast and Canada’s National Observer.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.