Costs of an Oil Spill

Even though three years have passed since crude oil began gushing from a ruptured well under the Santa Barbara Channel, no one yet knows the exact costs of the disaster. As so often happens with social problems in the U.S., the courts have to put a price tag on values that are hard to measure. The latest decision has come from a Santa Barbara court, where Judge Morton L. Barker ruled that the oil companies responsible for the oil spill--Union Oil, Mobil, Texaco and Gulf--should each pay $500 in criminal penalties.

"Outrageous!" snapped District Attorney David Minier, who is appealing the case to a higher court. The criminal case grew out of violations of Section 5650 of the Fish and Game code, which makes pollution of coastal waters a criminal misdemeanor. Under it, the oil companies were each charged with 343 counts, making a total possible fine of $812,000. Barker, however, accepted a guilty plea from the companies on only one count each.

What moved him to this startling decision was the notion that the companies have already "suffered sufficiently." They have indeed paid. To date, some $6 million worth of civil suits, principally one brought by hotelkeepers, property owners and fishermen, have been settled. In addition, Union Oil has spent $10.5 million to clean up tarred beaches.

More suits are still outstanding. For example, the state of California, with the county and city of Santa Barbara, is asking for $500 million in civil damages. In other words, Judge Barker's sympathy seems at least premature, since the potentially heaviest costs remain to be litigated.

Despite the obvious costs to the companies, lawyers found it hard to see what civil damages have to do with criminal penalties. Indeed, one critic has compared Judge Barker's decision to letting a drunken driver off with only a nominal fine after he has paid the hospital--or funeral--costs.

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