SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
A neighborhood in Mayflower, Arkansas lined with tar sands oil after the March 2013 rupture of the Pegasus pipeline. (Photo: Remember Mayflower Coalition/ Facebook)
Remember Mayflower? Exxon Slapped with Paltry Fine for Tar Sands Pipeline Spill
Arkansas suit against oil giant ends with $5 million agreement
Apr 22, 2015
Two years after a ruptured pipeline poured 134,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the suburban streets of Mayflower, Arkansas, creating a toxic mess that devastated both the community and the environment, ExxonMobil has been ordered to pay a $5 million fine for its role in the disaster, the state announced on Wednesday.
According to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Becky Keogh, a "consent decree" (pdf) has been reached in the suit over the March 29, 2013 rupture, in which the state charged that the oil giant had violated the Clean Water Act as well as state laws pertaining to the storage of hazardous waste during the cleanup of the massive spill.
"ExxonMobil will pay $1 million in State civil penalties, $600,000 toward water quality-based Supplemental Environmental Projects and $280,000 to the Attorney General's Office for litigation costs. ExxonMobil will also pay $3.19 million in federal civil penalties and perform measures to improve pipeline safety and spill response," reads the statement from the Attorney General's office.
As Mollie Matteson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Common Dreams, "When you look at the fine and consider that Exxon makes a profit of close to $9 million every day, this fine is about half a day's worth of profits.
"I think the real question here," Matteson continued, "is this fine sufficient to actually change Exxon's behavior or any oil company's behavior? And I think the answer is a pretty strong 'no.' Half a day's profit lost is not going to be anything but a blip on their operations."
Further, should Exxon chose to restart the pipeline which has laid dormant since the spill, it is required to pursue additional safety measures as well as improve its spill response capabilities.
In addition to its use of aging and unfit pipelines to transport the tar sands oil, Exxon was widely blamed for a slow and unfit response and for failing to communicate the extent of the spill--going so far as to institute a no-fly zone disallowing journalists and others to investigate the matter.
Following the spill, Mayflower residents were forced to evacuate and for months complained of smelling fumes as well as other negative health effects. The nearly 5,000 barrels of tar sands oil contaminated a local watershed, leaking an untold number of chemicals into the water supply.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, The U.S. is on a fast track to authoritarianism like nothing I've ever seen. Meanwhile, corporate news outlets are utterly capitulating to Trump, twisting their coverage to avoid drawing his ire while lining up to stuff cash in his pockets. That's why I believe that Common Dreams is doing the best and most consequential reporting that we've ever done. Our small but mighty team is a progressive reporting powerhouse, covering the news every day that the corporate media never will. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. And to ignite change for the common good. Now here's the key piece that I want all our readers to understand: None of this would be possible without your financial support. That's not just some fundraising cliche. It's the absolute and literal truth. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. Will you donate now to help power the nonprofit, independent reporting of Common Dreams? Thank you for being a vital member of our community. Together, we can keep independent journalism alive when it’s needed most. - Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Two years after a ruptured pipeline poured 134,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the suburban streets of Mayflower, Arkansas, creating a toxic mess that devastated both the community and the environment, ExxonMobil has been ordered to pay a $5 million fine for its role in the disaster, the state announced on Wednesday.
According to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Becky Keogh, a "consent decree" (pdf) has been reached in the suit over the March 29, 2013 rupture, in which the state charged that the oil giant had violated the Clean Water Act as well as state laws pertaining to the storage of hazardous waste during the cleanup of the massive spill.
"ExxonMobil will pay $1 million in State civil penalties, $600,000 toward water quality-based Supplemental Environmental Projects and $280,000 to the Attorney General's Office for litigation costs. ExxonMobil will also pay $3.19 million in federal civil penalties and perform measures to improve pipeline safety and spill response," reads the statement from the Attorney General's office.
As Mollie Matteson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Common Dreams, "When you look at the fine and consider that Exxon makes a profit of close to $9 million every day, this fine is about half a day's worth of profits.
"I think the real question here," Matteson continued, "is this fine sufficient to actually change Exxon's behavior or any oil company's behavior? And I think the answer is a pretty strong 'no.' Half a day's profit lost is not going to be anything but a blip on their operations."
Further, should Exxon chose to restart the pipeline which has laid dormant since the spill, it is required to pursue additional safety measures as well as improve its spill response capabilities.
In addition to its use of aging and unfit pipelines to transport the tar sands oil, Exxon was widely blamed for a slow and unfit response and for failing to communicate the extent of the spill--going so far as to institute a no-fly zone disallowing journalists and others to investigate the matter.
Following the spill, Mayflower residents were forced to evacuate and for months complained of smelling fumes as well as other negative health effects. The nearly 5,000 barrels of tar sands oil contaminated a local watershed, leaking an untold number of chemicals into the water supply.
Lauren McCauley
Lauren McCauley is a former senior editor for Common Dreams covering national and international politics and progressive news. She is now the Editor of Maine Morning Star. Lauren also helped produce a number of documentary films, including the award-winning Soundtrack for a Revolution and The Hollywood Complex, as well as one currently in production about civil rights icon James Meredith. Her writing has been featured on Newsweek, BillMoyers.com, TruthDig, Truthout, In These Times, and Extra! the newsletter of Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. She currently lives in Kennebunk, Maine with her husband, two children, a dog, and several chickens.
Two years after a ruptured pipeline poured 134,000 gallons of tar sands oil into the suburban streets of Mayflower, Arkansas, creating a toxic mess that devastated both the community and the environment, ExxonMobil has been ordered to pay a $5 million fine for its role in the disaster, the state announced on Wednesday.
According to Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge and Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) Director Becky Keogh, a "consent decree" (pdf) has been reached in the suit over the March 29, 2013 rupture, in which the state charged that the oil giant had violated the Clean Water Act as well as state laws pertaining to the storage of hazardous waste during the cleanup of the massive spill.
"ExxonMobil will pay $1 million in State civil penalties, $600,000 toward water quality-based Supplemental Environmental Projects and $280,000 to the Attorney General's Office for litigation costs. ExxonMobil will also pay $3.19 million in federal civil penalties and perform measures to improve pipeline safety and spill response," reads the statement from the Attorney General's office.
As Mollie Matteson, senior scientist with the Center for Biological Diversity, told Common Dreams, "When you look at the fine and consider that Exxon makes a profit of close to $9 million every day, this fine is about half a day's worth of profits.
"I think the real question here," Matteson continued, "is this fine sufficient to actually change Exxon's behavior or any oil company's behavior? And I think the answer is a pretty strong 'no.' Half a day's profit lost is not going to be anything but a blip on their operations."
Further, should Exxon chose to restart the pipeline which has laid dormant since the spill, it is required to pursue additional safety measures as well as improve its spill response capabilities.
In addition to its use of aging and unfit pipelines to transport the tar sands oil, Exxon was widely blamed for a slow and unfit response and for failing to communicate the extent of the spill--going so far as to institute a no-fly zone disallowing journalists and others to investigate the matter.
Following the spill, Mayflower residents were forced to evacuate and for months complained of smelling fumes as well as other negative health effects. The nearly 5,000 barrels of tar sands oil contaminated a local watershed, leaking an untold number of chemicals into the water supply.
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.