ANCHORAGE, Alaska: Exxon Mobil Corp. has won a round in a dispute with environmentalists who want more money to clean up oil left on the shoreline of Prince William Sound from the 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill. US District Judge H. Russel Holland ruled Monday against a request from former University of Alaska marine science professor Rick Steiner. Steiner had filed a motion trying to force the oil company to pay a $92 million claim failed in 2006 by the state and federal governments. Government lawyers are waiting for studies on the remaining oil and the effectiveness of cleanup techniques before pursuing the claim, the Anchorage Daily News reported Tuesday. “The court urges the governments and their trustees to proceed with all possible speed to complete studies that are under way and any necessary evaluation which they may require.” Exxon said it doesn't have any obligation to pay more. It paid $900 million in restitution in a 1991 settlement. But it had a “reopener” clause allowing the state and federal governments to later claim up to $100 million more from Exxon if there were unforeseen damages.
