Sean Parnell Still Works for the Oil Companies
By Shannyn Moore – Cross-posted from the Anchorage Daily News On Thursday, May 20 1993, Bob Van Brocklin left a suicide letter. “The stress from Exxon which brought about my financial stress was too much to deal with alone. The end should be good and maybe my spirit will live. I have a lot of fear right now, but faith is all that is left. I wish I could have done more good for others but I guess my time is up.” Bob was the former mayor of Cordova. He shot himself. Bob sat in the Cordova High School on the…
The Exxon Valdez Gets Its Death Sentence
The artist tanker formerly known as the Exxon Valdez has gotten its death sentence. It has been sold for scrap for about $16 million. The tanker, which was only a shiny new three year old in 1989 when it slammed into Bligh Reef, causing devastation of people, marine life, and the economy in Prince William Sound, has had an odd history which is almost at an end. The Dallas Morning News reports: Twenty-three years after the oil supertanker became synonymous with what its Irving-based owner at the time calls “one of the lowest points in ExxonMobil’s 125-year history,” the ship is…
Vulture’s Picnic – My Home is Now a Strange Place (Installment 3)
[This is the third installment of Chapter 7, My Home is Now a Strange Place from Greg Palast’s Vulture’s Picnic. Many thanks to Mr. Palast for providing The Mudflats with an exclusive of this story that is so critical to the state of Alaska, and reveals so much about the corporate interests that still dominate here.] By Greg Palast PRINCE WILLIAM SOUND, ALASKA, 1989 State Inspector Dan Lawn, grabbing a fast launch from Valdez, was the first to reach the shipwrecked tanker, risking the ride through the sickening fumes and fountains of crude that could explode with the touch…
Vulture’s Picnic by Greg Palast – A Mudflats Exclusive Excerpt
By Zach Roberts Hey Mudflatters – In addition to my duties as New York Bureau Chief of The Mudflats, I’ve taken on working with Greg Palast. You might have heard him on the Shannyn Moore Show talking about the Exxon Valdez oil spill. He was a forensic economist for the Chugach Natives – kind of a Sam Spade, except with numbers (not as sexy… and no whips). He uncovered the fact that it wasn’t the drunk Captain, but Exxon being cheap that caused that man-made disaster. The story made him give up his day job and start working as a…
A Final Bon Voyage from Cordova…
It’s been a day of farewells. Kiss-offs and parties, reflections and celebrations… Palin fatigue yet? Don’t worry. This is our final send-off to the governor… er… ex-governor. Where will she land? We’re not sure. There’s a rumor circulating that she and Todd have been looking at real estate in the Hamptons. I heard about this several weeks ago and laughed it off. But, apparently the rumor persists. I am somewhat familiar with that area of Long Island, and may I say that if the rumor is true, and the Palin’s join the Hamptons crowd in a multi-million dollar beachfront home,…