31 years ago today, on September 16, 1994 (August 11, 1994 in the lunar calendar), Exxon was fined US$5 billion for polluting the ocean. On September 16, 1994, Exxon, the largest oil company in the United States, was fined US$5 billion by a federal court in Alaska for causing the most serious marine pollution incident in British history. On March 24, 1989, the Exxon "Valdes" tanker ran aground in Prince William Sound, Alaska, and leaked nearly 41.65 million liters of crude oil into nearby waters. The 16th verdict was handed down by a federal grand jury in Anchorage after 12 days of discussions. Although Exxon said it would appeal, the legal process surrounding the incident is nearing completion. The oil spill of the Exxon Valdez tanker is recognized as one of the major international events in 1989. Hundreds of kilometers of coastline along the coast of Alaska have been severely polluted, thousands of seabirds and aquatic animals have been killed, fishing grounds and related facilities on which about 10,000 fishermen and local residents rely have been closed, salmon and herring resources are close to extinction, and dozens of companies have gone bankrupt or are on the verge of bankruptcy. As a result, pollution victims collectively filed a lawsuit in federal court based on Exxon's own reported average annual profit of US$5 billion, demanding that the perpetrators pay US$15 billion in economic damages and disciplinary fines. On April 20, 2010, the sunken drilling platform in the Gulf of Mexico, the Deepwater Horizon drilling platform exploded on the night of April 20, 2010 and caused a fire, killing 11 staff members and sinking into the Gulf of Mexico approximately 36 hours later. The pipeline at the bottom of the platform has been leaking oil outward since April 24. The speed of its leakage has far exceeded previous expectations, and the degree of damage is likely to exceed the Exxon Valdez incident that occurred off the coast of Alaska in 1989, making it the most serious crude oil pollution marine accident in U.S. history.