Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 8, 1991 TAG: 9103080118
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
U.S. District Judge Stanley Sporkin issued a temporary restraining order directing the government not to sign any settlement until at least Monday, when he has scheduled a hearing on a lawsuit filed by the villages.
The government and Exxon apparently are close to an agreement to settle civil lawsuits over the massive oil spill in Prince William Sound. Alaska's attorney general, Charles Cole, said this week that only one major point remained to be settled.
The villages contend the government may be negotiating away some of their rights without allowing them to participate in the talks.
Government attorney Letitia Grishaw said the settlement process would not infringe on the villages' rights because there would be a 30-day public comment period before any settlement would take effect.
Sporkin said his order did not bar the government and Exxon from continuing their talks, just from signing an agreement.
The villages' lawsuit seeks to preserve their right to "subsist off the natural resources of their ancestral lands . . . and to preserve the subsistence claims of the Native Alaskan villages arising from the discharge of oil from the Exxon Valdez on March 24, 1989."
Cole said last week that Exxon, and state and federal officials had agreed to a broad framework for a settlement. He said Wednesday the proposed settlement was about $1.2 billion.
The money would be used to restore natural resources in Prince William Sound, where nearly 11 million gallons of crude oil gushed from the tanker Exxon Valdez after it ran aground.
The villages' lawsuit alleged that there is new scientific evidence of long-term damage to sea birds and marine life in the Prince William Sound area, and that the prospective settlement was not expected to address that evidence.
by CNB