In 1994, a federal jury in Anchorage, Alaska, ordered Exxon Corp. to pay $5 billion in punitive damages for the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill, but the U.S Supreme Court later reduced that amount to ...

An area estimated to be as large as 1,000 football fields has been covered in oil so far. While clean-up methods are underway, big spills are difficult to contain.