Exxon Mobil Settles New York Pollution Suit

Date: December 13, 2001

Source: News Room

Exxon Mobil Corp., in one of the largest hazardous waste case settlements ever negotiated, will pay $11.2 million for illegally polluting New York waters with benzene. The corporation will be barred under law from trying to argue anywhere in the United States that hazardous waste laws should not be applied to a single release or spill, according to Justice Department and Environmental Protection Agency officials. The settlement amount includes $8.2 million in civil penalties and $3 million for buying and restoring land in New York City on the Arthur Kill waterway between Staten Island and New Jersey. The government filed suit against Mobil Oil Corp. in 1996 for allegedly mismanaging benzene-contaminated waste at its petroleum products storage and distribution terminal on the Arthur Kill waterway in Staten Island. Benzene, a known human carcinogen, became a regulated hazardous waste in 1990. Under the settlement, the corporation admitted liability for discharging hazardous waste between 1991 and 1993 into two large artificial ponds without a permit and legally required environmental protection, government officials said.

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