US and ExxonMobil Oil settle for $4.7 million
25 Sep 2002
ExxonMobil Oil Corporation is to pay the United States and the state of California $4.7 million in compensation for a spill of crude oil from a pipeline operated by the former Mobil Oil Company.
The bulk of the money will go towards restoration of natural resources injured by the spill; the remainder will be paid as federal and state civil penalties and other damages.
The spill occurred when a segment of pipeline beneath the Valencia Golf Course in Valencia, Los Angeles County, CA ruptured in 1991. The oil flowing from the ruptured pipeline fouled a 15-mile stretch of the Santa Clara River between Los Angeles and Ventura Counties. The Santa Clara River and surrounding habitat are home to a rich abundance of plant and animal life, including numerous endangered and threatened species, protected under federal and California law.
Despite Mobil's prompt response to the spill, damages to flora and fauna in and along the river were unavoidable. This settlement resolves past violations by the former Mobil and will pay for habitat restoration and preservation projects in and along the Santa Clara River to compensate for the natural resources injured by the oil spill.
'Today's settlement provides needed funds that can be effectively used to offset the losses caused by the Santa Clara River spill,' said Tom Sansonetti, Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division. 'It is also an example of what can be accomplished through a close federal-state working relationship, such as we have with the state of California.'
In May, the United States filed a civil suit against Shell Pipeline Company LP and Olympic Pipeline Company in connection with the June 1999 gasoline pipeline rupture near Bellingham, WA. The complaint alleges that the rupture was caused by gross negligence or willful misconduct in the operation and maintenance of the pipeline. The rupture resulted in the discharge of over 230,000 gallons of gasoline into two creeks and caused the deaths of three young people, as well as severe property and environmental damage.
Similarly, in March, the United States reached a settlement with Texaco Exploration and Production that requires the company to make major upgrades to its leaking pipelines at its production field in Aneth, UT on Navajo Nation land, to pay a civil penalty and to carry out supplemental environmental projects to provide adequate drinking water to nearby residents.
