Nation IN BRIEF : ALASKA : $9.7 Million Awarded in Exxon Oil Spill

A jury in Anchorage awarded $9.7 million on to six Alaska Native corporations and a borough that sued over land damages caused by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. The verdict in Anchorage Superior Court disappointed the plaintiffs, who sought more than $120 million. “It doesn’t come anywhere close to what’s been damaged,” said Charles Totemoff, president of the Chenega Corp. He testified during the three-month trial that people in his village are still reluctant to eat fish and game taken from the spill area. Other testimony focused on whether the oil affected the value of remote, sparsely populated land that produces little or no income.