ExxonMobil to pay $5M fine for 2013 spill

ExxonMobil will pay civil penalties and fund an environmental project to settle a dispute with federal and state governments over a 2013 oil spill in Arkansas.

{mosads}The Department of Justice and the Environmental Protection Agency announced Wednesday that ExxonMobil will pay $3.19 million in federal civil penalties and $1 million in Arkansas civil penalties following the spill in Mayflower, Arkansas. The company will also spend $600,000 on a water quality improvement project at Arkansas’s Lake Conway and pay legal fees to the state.

Federal and state agencies sued ExxonMobil after its Pegasus Pipeline ruptured on March 29, 2013, spilling about 3,190 barrels of oil. Creeks and wetlands around Mayflower and parts of Lake Conway were contaminated.

The company agreed to “take steps to address pipeline safety issues and oil spill response capability” as part of its settlement, officials announced Wednesday.

“Oil spills like this one in Mayflower, Arkansas have real and lasting impacts on clean water for communities,” EPA Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance assistant administrator Cynthia Giles said in a statement. “Companies need to take the necessary precautions to make sure oil is transported safely and responsibly. This settlement puts in place essential pipeline safety and response measures that are important to make this industry safer for communities.”

The ruptured section of the pipeline hasn’t been used since the incident.