June 13, 2010

Finally: indications of a preliminary settlement deal for rescue, relief, and reclamation workers suffering health problems as a result of their work at Ground Zero. This, after the scuttling of the settlement deal in March.

Well, at least there's one silver lining: it was, in fact, a swifter outcome than the settlement of the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill. That deal took 20 years—two decades for compensation to reach those whose homes, lives, and livelihoods were ruined by the Alaskan oil spill. (And when the BP blowout is finally contained in the Gulf of Mexico, how long will it take to settle that class-action suit?)