By SAM BISHOP News-Miner Washington Bureau

WASHINGTON--Almost a quarter of the U.S. Senate has signed a letter to ExxonMobil Corp.'s chairman asking him to either negotiate with people hurt by the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill or stop appealing the $4.5 billion that a federal court has awarded to victims.

Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, and Patty Murray, D-Wash., wrote the letter to Rex Tillerson, Exxon's CEO and chairman. Twenty-two other senators, including seven Republicans and 15 Democrats, joined them.

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