Crude Treatment?

I've been told it isn't. The Exxon Valdez guest host segment I had hoped to do on behalf of plaintiffs in the class action suit, up to be heard late this winter by the U.S. Supreme Court, on Anchorage's KUDO radio Monday afternoon, has been cancelled. Again. I've been assured the cancellations were both unavoidable. I'll leave it to the host you hear tomorrow to explain. Meanwhile, I have a lot of calls and e-mails to make and write.

I'll keep using this blog to add information to the public domain about the upcoming trial. Thanks to everyone who had been helping prepare this twice-cancelled segment.

Update - November 18: These are statements from the three candidates in the Democratic Primary for our state's sole U.S. House seat, I had solicited for tomorrow's KUDO show. They are genuine, and deserve to be heard - in alphabetical order, of course:

Diane Benson on the Exxon Valdez:
Twenty years ago, Exxon had an employee assistance program in place which assured that whenever a tanker skipper had a drinking problem, the skipper would get professional help and would be required to follow guidelines recommended by alcohol treatment professionals. That program mandated that a skipper could be visited by a counselor at any port Exxon visited, at any time. Nineteen years ago, Exxon ended that program to save a few hundred thousand dollars per year.

Eighteen and a half years ago, the Exxon Valdez ran across Bligh Reef because Exxon, not a ship’s crew, had ended an effective monitoring program, allowing Joe Hazelwood to drink and then return to duty.
Exxon, not a ship’s crew, set up heavy work schedules for tanker crews while berthed at the Alyeska terminal - schedules which exhausted crews.
Exxon, not a ship’s crew, allowed this combination of inebriated, exhausted mariners to navigate their cargo across the pristine waters of Prince William Sound.
Exxon, not a ship’s crew, lobbied and pressured the U.S. Coast Guard to allow their tankers to leave the Prince William Sound tanker navigation lanes during icy conditions, rather than just slow down.

For the focus of this case to now shift, at the Supreme Court level, to an archaic privateering maritime law case, that of the privateer Scourge, in the aftermath of the War of 1812, is almost beyond words. I’m concerned about this intersection of Exxon’s cynical defense and George Bush’s corporation-friendly Court.

Governor Palin has called this case “a kick in the guts” to Alaskans. She almost got it right. What Exxon did to us, to our fishers and coastal residents, rhymes with “a kick in the guts,” but was an even lower blow. To use another maritime law term - we’ve been Shanghaied.

Diane Benson for Congress
++++++

ETHAN BERKOWITZ ON EXXON’S LATEST APPEAL
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 16, 2007
Exxon’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is just another example of the company’s repeated failure to treat Alaska like a respected partner. Thousands of Alaskans are still waiting for the money they are owed. All this in spite of the billions and billions of dollars in profit Exxon has taken off the North Slope. It’s too bad that we’re no longer surprised when Exxon has the audacity to lobby our legislators in Juneau for tax fairness, stall in the D.C. courts and leave Alaska twisting in the tide. The Palin Administration did the right thing filing a “friend of the court” brief on behalf of the state and making sure Alaska stands up to Exxon.

Ethan Berkowitz for Congress
++++++

Jake Metcalfe on the Exxon Valdez Lawsuit:

It is tragic Exxon chooses to fight the battle over punitive damages for the terrible 1989 Exxon Valdez spill it is responsible for causing. I lived in Alaska when the spill took place. I know the damage it caused our people, our resources and our environment. Exxon should do the right thing and pay the plaintiffs now.

That said, I'm confident the judicial branch of our government will do the right thing in the end. It is unfortunate that Exxon has delayed payment so long, but in the end my hope is the Court will make Exxon pay interest and costs on the award as it stands now, and that the plaintiffs will get their fair share quickly.

Jake Metcalfe for Congress

++++++

I'll post Representative Young's statement as soon as it arrives.....

Update - Monday afternoon: I apologize to anyone who had arranged their schedule or travel to participate in this cancelled show. I failed to communicate the change to Frank Mullen and to CDFU. Both Frank and CDFU went to a lot of trouble to help. I'm truly sorry.

I feel uncomfortable with the way KUDO and Aaron Selbig dealt with me and with you folks in the cancellations. Aaron says the cancellations were ordered by Vince Beltrani of the IBEW so that Beltrani could "deliver an important message." I'm waiting to hear it. A notice by KUDO to listeners about the change would have been appropriate at the beginning of either cancelled segment. If a notice was given, I somehow missed it. Selbig says he wants to do a segment on this issue on his program in the near future. I'm willing to help on this, as soon as he makes a firm commitment.