The oil spill in San Francisco Bay also hit people in my hometown of Cordova, the native village of Chenega, Port Graham, Kodiak, Chignik - and all other of the 22 Alaskan communities directly affected by the Exxon Valdez spill more than 18 years ago.

 The reason Exxon Valdez survivors literally "feel your pain" is that disaster trauma is stored in memory with no time tag other than "present." No matter what else of significance happens in a person's life, trauma memory is able to trump it all in an unguarded moment.

 As an Exxon Valdez survivor, the intensity of emotion that flooded over me when I learned of the spill in San Francisco Bay was as real as when I first experienced it two decades ago.

 Besides wishing to extend my sympathy to those harmed by the Cosco Busan spill, I hope to share some of what we in Alaska learned the hard way, so that survivors might avoid our mistakes.

 The spilled oil will take its toll on wildlife, your beautiful beaches and bays, commercial and sport fisheries and fishing-based businesses, tourism and recreational businesses, local governments that depend on these businesses for tax revenue, and more.

 You will be surprised to learn, as we were, that despite public promises to "make us whole" from the spiller - in our case, Exxon Corp. - actual damages are quite limited under maritime law.

 This ancient law is rooted in past centuries when the need to protect the critical shipping industry trumped the needs of most other industries.

 We now find ourselves in the U.S. Supreme Court having to defend what remains of our punitive damage award. In its appeal, ExxonMobil has invoked the Amiable Nancy, a nearly 200-year-old maritime law that limits the liability of ship owners from reckless mistakes of their captains -- in that case, from pirate captains plundering other vessels for profit.

 In the two centuries before ExxonMobil dredged up the Amiable Nancy ruling from Davy Jones' locker, crude oil rose to dominance as a global energy source. Much of this oil is shipped to markets in some of the world's largest ships - supertankers carrying millions of gallons. Sophisticated communications make it possible for responsible ship owners to stay in daily contact with their captains.

 The liability of ship owners was -- and is still -- largely limited to commercial fishermen and private landowners who were directly oiled. All other claims will be tossed out, as they were in our case.

 If the Exxon Valdez case is a harbinger of litigation to come, it does not bode well for people, civic society or the environment. In our case, simply put, a giant corporation used its wealth to aggressively drive up legal expenses and to reduce, delay, and eliminate payment of awards to spill victims for more than 18 years -- and counting.

 But the loss goes far deeper than economic damages. Oil spills in coastal seas create long sticky tendrils of disaster trauma that emotionally scar everyone they touch. Mental health counselors are overwhelmed with those having difficulty coping with disruptions to daily work and play routines, feelings of loss of control over one's life, loss of quality time to visit with family and friends, intrusive dreams, and gnawing worries over an uncertain future.

 Heaping fuel on the fire was the very tool given to us to "make us whole" -- class-action litigation. We experienced a secondary spill disaster through prolonged litigation that created as much trauma for spill victims as the initial spill.

 Psychologists found that adversarial litigation emotionally "arrests" disaster-scarred survivors, forcing them to keep the disaster trauma alive and present until case closure. Further, litigation generates new trauma, which amounts to a double helping of stress for disaster victims.

 For us in Cordova -- as it will be for you in San Francisco -- it's not about whether the Supreme Court should hear the case. It's about justice and reparation, making injured parties whole. It's about more than an oil spill.

 We ask all of you who share in the cost of oil spill cleanup as taxpayers and in the devastation of this spill as owners of public resources - oiled wildlife and oiled public lands - to join us in defeating ExxonMobil's appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court. It is time to retire outdated laws like the Amiable Nancy.

 But perhaps it is also time for Americans to question whether the adversarial litigation system is really the best way to ascertain truth, ensure fairness and dispense justice.

And we in Cordova offer some suggestions for rebuilding our American justice system:

-- Post-disaster disputes could be minimized during preliminary planning and scoping of projects by negotiated, legally binding agreements.

-- Financial incentives and rules could be created to encourage dispute resolution through non-adversarial negotiated settlements.

-- Incentives could be created to shorten litigation timelines by eliminating mechanisms that reward profits through stalling.

 In Cordova, we hope that it is just a matter of time before these suggestions or other similar ones are demanded by professionals, activists, and victims fed up with the American "injustice system," archaic irrelevant laws, and oil spills.

 We also encourage those of you (including the state) who are considering lawsuits to demand instead negotiated settlements with a three- to five-year timeline. This will bring closure and allow you to move on with your lives, something we found that is as important as reparation. – Riki Ott, Ph.D., a community activist and former fisherm'am, writing in the San Francisco Chronicle

VANCOUVER – Swift and sweeping action is needed by all government levels to protect the 90-km gravel reach between Hope and Mission that represents the most biologically rich part of the Fraser River, says a report for the Pacific Fisheries Resource Conservation Council.

 The 111-page report, titled Saving the Heart of the Fraser, said the reach represents "some of Canada's most biologically significant riparian and aquatic ecosystems" and is under "extreme stress" from activities such as urban growth, agriculture, resource extraction and industrial development.

 The Fraser River flows 1,370 km from its headwaters at Mount Robson Provincial Park to the Strait of Georgia at Vancouver, draining 236,000 square km or about one-quarter of the province.

 At least 30 different species of fish spawn, rear or migrate through this part of the lower Fraser River, including more than 10 million pink salmon in peak years and an endangered population of sturgeon that is the source of a popular catch-and-release sport fishery.

 The report says current environmental law is "insufficient to protect this environmentally unique and economically valuable Canadian ecosystem," noting habitat is at risk from a "bias towards development and the momentum generated by the growing population in the region."

 The report is authored by council deputy chair Mark Angelo and biologist Marvin Rosenau, a former provincial fish biologist, both of whom are with BCIT's fish, wildlife and recreation program.

 "The heart of the Fraser has internationally renowned fisheries values and is one of the most productive stretches of river anywhere in the world," Angelo said.

The report states that despite 150 years of impact, there is much biodiversity in the lower Fraser River that can still be saved. It recommends:

 -- All levels of government -- federal, provincial, local and first nations -- devise a consensus-based plan of immediate measures to stem the losses of irreplaceable ecosystems.

-- Research to identify the sites needing immediate protection, purchasing private sites where possible or protecting them via covenant, perhaps through organizations such as The Nature Trust or the Sto:lo Trust.

-- Converting important Crown sites -- and perhaps even reserve lands, with first nations approval -- to protected areas, with the use of land trades to preserve aboriginal interests.

-- Restoring areas of the river that have been damaged over the years, including potential removal of non-essential rip-rap armour used for shoreline protection.

-- Reducing shoreline damage associated with commercial cottonwood plantations as well as gravel extraction, and stemming the loss of agricultural land.

-- Investigating the importance of large woody debris as habitat in the lower Fraser River, and the effect on fish of the Agassiz debris trap, which is meant to reduce damage to boats downstream.

-- Better law enforcement in the lower river, and the recognition that damaging fish habitat should be considered a serious violation.

 The council provides independent policy advice to the B.C. and federal governments for a sustainable fish resource, including protection of habitat.

Council board members include former federal fisheries minister John Fraser, chairman and retired University of B.C. oceanography professor Paul LeBlond, B.C. Aboriginal Fisheries Commission chairman Arnie Narcisse, and Jeff Marliave, vice-president of marine science at the Vancouver Aquarium.—Press release