The state of Alaska has filed a friend of the court brief in the Exxon Valdez oil spill case. Governor Sarah Palin said Tuesday that the brief encourages the U.S. Supreme Court to hold the oil company responsible for the spill and make it pay the jury award of $2.5 billion in punitive damages.

Exxon has been appealing the case since an Anchorage jury in
1994 returned $5 billion in punitive damages against the company.
An appeals court later cut the award in half.

The Exxon Valdez hit a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989 and
spilled 11 million gallons of crude oil. The nation's highest court is scheduled to hear oral arguments
in Exxon's appeal on February 27th.