Despite the $900 million settlement won by the Alaskan administration after the Exxon oil spill on March 24, 1989, residents of Cordova are still up in arms for a fair court hearing. The Cordova fisherfolk blame the oil spill for a sharp drop in salmon catches over the past two years and say that Exxon is just trying to sit out the protest. "It's been a war of attrition," salmon fisher and former Cordova city council member R J Kopchak told Associated Press.

Exxon's lawyers, however, deny allegations of deliberate delaying tactics. Complaints have been classified into state and federal class actions, each with different trial judges, schedules and evidence rules. The state plaintiffs include mayors of 7 towns in the spill's path and 13 native corporations. The mayors want compensation for municipal services that were diverted to combat the spill and the latter claim that some of their land and archaelogical sites were damaged.