Slick Science

Episode 3

August 27th 2024

Irrational Juries

Exxon admitted it had spilled 11 million gallons of oil in Prince William Sound, but it didn’t believe the mistake warranted punitive damages.

In this final episode of Slick Science, we learn how corporations like Exxon fight back with research they fund.

Host Gordon Katic digs through the notes of an environmental sociologist who worked on Exxon-funded research.

We also hear perspectives from Exxon-funded research arguing against juries, especially in the context of punitive damages.

With a better understanding of corporations and their hand in academia, the shocking final verdict on the Exxon Valdez oil spill starts to make sense.

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On a late March evening in 1989, the Exxon Valdez, an oil tanker owned by the Exxon Shipping Company, spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil into Alaska’s Prince William Sound.

At the time, it was the largest single oil spill in U.S. waters. It covered 1,300 miles of coastline and killed hundreds of thousands of seabirds, otters, seals and whales.

The world thought that was the end of the story. But there’s so much more to what happened that night in Alaska.

Our newest podcast reinvestigates the Exxon Valdez spill 35 years later, bringing new voices, new information and new stories to one of history’s most infamous environmental disasters.

We hear from scientists and fishers who form unlikely friendships and unfold the trauma of how an oil spill impacts the environment, economy, and people as they fight against Big Oil.

Slick Science: The toxic legacy of the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill is a collaboration between Cited Podcast and Canada’s National Observer.

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