Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!aplcen!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!psuvax1!psuvm!auvm!BROWNVM!JWS From: JWS@BROWNVM.BITNET (Joseph Sullivan) Newsgroups: bit.listserv.politics Subject: Re: oil spill legislation Message-ID: <90042.1521.JWS@BROWNVM> Date: 11 Feb 90 15:21:42 GMT Sender: Forum for the Discussion of Politics Reply-To: Forum for the Discussion of Politics Lines: 14 Approved: NETNEWS@AUVM Gateway What burns me about the EXXON spills isn't that they happen, but rather the arrogance with which big corps like EXXON respond to suggestions that they clean it up. When you spill a glass of milk on the floor, you cleaned it up. Mom and Dad insisted upon it and it's very reasonable. Most people clean up their own messes. You don't wipe up part of it and then charge everybody in the house for the paper towels. EXXON's responsibility for the mess in Alaska is precisely the same as anyone else's. Now, if they won't assume the responsibility, then Mom and Dad step in and pound the little bastard. Since EXXON has demonstrated no intention of rendering anything but a cursory cleanup, the Govt. should--and I believe under existing law--can seize EXXON's Alaskan holdings as a 'public nuisance', and distribute its assets to the State of Alaska for coastal cleanup. Alaska could then administer EXXON's remaining Pt. Barrow holdings as a public corporation, with profits going to the people of Alaska (after all, it's their oil). Sounds a little like Socialism? It is.