JURY DUTY AND BIG OIL

Ugh. Believe me when I say that I’m all for people doing their civic responsibilities. However, today was a soft-touch hell. There’s just so much sitting and waiting I can do before my eyes glaze over. And, boy, did my eyes glaze over today. Actually, parts of my day of jury service in Harris County, Texas (a.k.a. “the Death Penalty Capitol of the World”), were quite interesting. But I’m mentally exhausted right now; I’ll have more on my jury day later. Until then, here’s the case I was called for.

Pretty heavy stuff, huh?

Also, you should go read Greg Palast’s piece on the Exxon Valdez massive oil spill of 1989. It gives a pretty good picture of how big corporations operate:

We discovered an internal memo describing a closed, top Level meeting of oil company executives in Arizona held just ten months before the spill. It was a meeting of the “Alyeska Owners Committee,” the six-company combine that owns the Alaska pipeline and most of the state’s oil. In that meeting, say the notes, the chief of their Valdez operations, Theo Polasek, warned executives that containing an oil spill “at the mid-point of Prince William Sound not possible with present equipment”—exactly where the Exxon Valdez grounded. Polasek needed millions of dollars for spillcontainment equipment. The law required it, the companies promised it to regulators, then at the meeting, the proposed spending was voted down. The oil company combine had a cheaper plan to contain any spill—don’t bother. According to an internal memorandum, they’d just drop some dispersants and walk away. That’s exactly what happened. “At the owners committee meeting in Phoenix, it was decided that Alyeska would provide immediate response to oil spills in Valdez Arm and Valdez Narrows only”—not the Prince William Sound.

Click here for the rest.

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