ENERGY

Judge Clears Exxon of Duty to Pay Natives: Six months after a jury ordered Exxon Corp. to pay $9.7 million for oil-spill damages to aboriginal-owned and public lands, the judge who presided over the trial has ruled that Exxon need not pay anything to the natives. The native corporations that were plaintiffs in the case have already been more than compensated for their Exxon Valdez oil-spill damages through a federal liability fund and a past legal settlement, Alaska Superior Court Judge Brian Shortell said in his March 21 order. He cited payments to the groups from the Trans Alaska Pipeline Liability Fund and a $98-million spill settlement reached in 1993 between thousands of plaintiffs and the Alyeska Pipeline Service Co.