ExxonMobil slammed for Everett spill

[unhappycamper]

ExxonMobil slammed for Everett spill
By Jonathan Saltzman
Globe Staff / December 24, 2008

A wholly owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp. will pay $6.1 million in fines and plead guilty to a criminal charge in response to a 15,000-gallon diesel fuel spill at an Everett oil terminal - a mess that federal authorities said was caused, in part, by the company's failure to replace a $2 metal coupling.

Prosecutors said yesterday that they had charged ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. with a criminal violation of the federal Clean Water Act in the January 2006 spill, which coated the Island End River and Mystic River with a blue-green sheen.

Under a plea agreement filed with the criminal charge in US District Court in Boston, the company will not only pay the fine, but will also fund a court-appointed monitor to oversee the Everett terminal for three years, and follow a rigorous environmental compliance plan. The agreement awaits court approval.

The spill occurred over a period of about 12 hours beginning Jan. 9, 2006, after the oil tanker M/V Nara docked at ExxonMobil's ter minal to unload petroleum products, authorities said. A badly worn 10-inch seal valve on one of the berths failed to close completely and leaked low-sulfur diesel fuel into another pipeline containing low-sulfur kerosene. That caused pressure to build up in the second pipeline until it burst a 3/4-inch metal coupling 610 feet way.

US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said a contractor testing the valve for ExxonMobil in September 2005 had warned the company that the 10-inch seal was leaking - but the company ignored the warning. Sullivan also said the metal coupling was more than 30 years old, unpainted, and badly corroded, and would have cost about $2 to replace.


Rest of article at: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2008/12/24/exxonmobil_slammed_for_everett_spill/%2e

[tavalon]

1. Gee, and Exxon used to be such an upstanding corporate citizen!

:sarcasm:

Haven't used Exxon since the Valdez spilled, not because of the spill but because of their abysmal behavior around it.

[unhappycamper]

2. I've avoided them myself tavalon.

Whenever possible I try to buy Citgo. Perhaps that's the contraian in me.

[tavalon]

3. I'm contrary right along with you!