Exxon Arraignment Set Today on Oil Spill Criminal Charges

Exxon through its lawyers is due to appear in federal court this afternoon for arraignment on criminal charges in connection with last year’s disastrous Exxon Valdez oil spill.

“We plan to defend ourselves vigorously,” Exxon Shipping Co. attorney James Neal said from his Nashville law office before flying to Anchorage for the U.S. District Court arraignment.

Exxon Corp., which is being represented by O’Melveny & Myers of Los Angeles, and Exxon Shipping Co. were expected to plead innocent to five charges against each firm contained in a Feb. 27 federal grand jury indictment.

Convictions could bring fines of more than $700 million, based on damage estimates of the 11-million-gallon spill of March 24, 1989, according to the Department of Justice. In addition, Exxon could be ordered to pay restitution.

Exxon had sought to avoid criminal charges in secret negotiations with the Justice Department. But the talks fell apart when Alaska officials publicly decried the process and criticized the Bush Administration’s handling of the case.

As a result, the two Exxon companies were indicted for five environmental crimes--violating the Clean Water Act, the Refuse Act, the Migratory Bird Act, the Ports and Waterways Safety Act and the Dangerous Cargo Act.

In the indictment, the Justice Department said Exxon was responsible for its skipper’s actions--for taking the tanker out of shipping lanes and then leaving the bridge to an “unqualified” mate and an “incompetent” helmsman.

The tanker broke open on Bligh Reef, spewing oil into Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska and affecting wildlife and fishing. Crude oil hit 1,200 miles of shoreline, including seven national parks and wildlife refuges. The spill was the worst in U.S. history.

Exxon Shipping’s attorney, Neal, 60, was a U.S. attorney in Tennessee in the 1960s and prosecuted Teamster leader James R. Hoffa. A decade later he served as chief trial counsel for the Watergate special prosecutor’s office.

As a private defense lawyer, Neal won acquittals for Elvis Presley’s doctor on drug-related charges, the Ford Motor Co. in the Pinto crash case, Louisiana Gov. Edwin W. Edwards on corruption charges and John Landis on charges arising out of the Twilight Zone movie crash deaths.