Exxon Valdez oil spill After 20 years, there is no evidence suggesting that either cleanup workers or the residents of the communities affected by the Valdez spill have had any adverse health effects as a result of the spill or its cleanup. In 1992, Exxon released a video titled "Scientists and the Alaska Oil Spill", to be distributed to schools. Dr. Michael Fry called it a piece of "corporate propaganda". In December 1994, the Unabomber assassinated Burson-Marsteller executive Thomas Mosser, accusing him of having "helped Exxon clean up its public image after the "Exxon Valdez" incident". The PR company claimed not to have been
Exxon Valdez oil spill official position was that punitive damages greater than $25 million were not justified because the spill resulted from an accident, and because Exxon spent an estimated $2 billion cleaning up the spill and a further $1 billion to settle related civil and criminal charges. Attorneys for the plaintiffs contended that Exxon bore responsibility for the accident because the company "put a drunk in charge of a tanker in Prince William Sound." Exxon recovered a significant portion of clean-up and legal expenses through insurance claims associated with the grounding of the "Exxon Valdez". Also, in 1991, Exxon made a quiet, separate