Spill Fund Offers $17 Million to Village Corporations

An administrator for a liability account funded by oil producers has offered to pay more than $17 million to native village corporations for damage caused by the Exxon Valdez oil spill.

The sums to each corporation were approved last week by John J. Gibbons, the New Jersey-based retired federal judge who is claims administrator for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund.

Congress established the account in 1973, and a tax of 5 cents on each barrel of North Slope crude funded its $100-million balance. After the 11-million-gallon Valdez spill, more than 28,000 claimants sought more than $50 billion.

Samuel J. Fortier, a lawyer for Prince William Sound corporations, said the corporations had asked for more than $100 million for damages linked to threatened archeological sites and the loss of subsistence sources of food.

Gibbons’ offer may be appealed to the fund and ultimately to a federal court. Fortier said it was too soon to say what his clients might do.

An Exxon spokesman in Anchorage said Friday that he was unaware of the fund’s offer.

In his memorandum, Gibbons said analysts believe that village shorelines will be oily for as long as 24 years.

Fortier called the conclusion a significant victory in a three-year effort to persuade officials that native lands--and traditional ways of life dependent on them--have been harmed.

The 1989 spill oiled miles of Alaska shoreline and dumped waxy North Slope crude into the pristine waters of Prince William Sound, killing marine mammals and birds, and shortening fishing seasons.