ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) – A brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court by Alaska lawmakers and four former governors says Exxon violated a social contract it had entered into with the state when the tanker Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989 and caused an 11-million-gallon oil spill.
The brief says that as a result, the oil company should be subject to punitive damages for the environmental catastrophe.
The high court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in Exxon’s appeal on February 27th.