ENERGY

Alyeska Spill Deal Advances: Federal and state judges tentatively approved the deal under which Alyeska Pipeline Services Co. would pay $98 million to settle claims against it stemming from the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989. U.S. District Judge Russel Holland and Alaska Superior Court Judge Brian Shortell signed an order allowing the Alyeska settlement process to proceed, said Lloyd Miller, liaison counsel for the plaintiffs in the case. “The important thing was (that) the settlement was preliminarily approved, and now we can send out notices and claims forms to 65,000 people,” Miller said. If the settlement wins final approval later this year, it will be the end of Exxon Valdez-related litigation against Alyeska, the operator of the trans-Alaska pipeline and its Valdez marine terminal. Federal and state trials against Exxon are scheduled for next year.