How much was Exxon Mobil fined for violating the Clean Water Act in the Mystic River spill?
At approximately 4:30 A.M. on Jan. 9, 2006, the oil tanker M/V Nara docked at Berth 3 to unload petroleum products, including approximately 3.1 million gallons of low sulfur diesel (LSD) fuel, which is blue-green in color and is used as fuel in various types of engines. Later that morning, hoses running from the Nara’s tanks were attached to a product intake manifold on Berth 3. By mid-afternoon, pumps aboard the Nara began to pump LSD fuel from the vessel through the manifold into a product receipt line that was connected to storage tanks on the tank farm. As it was being pumped from the Nara, the LSD flowed past a 10-inch seal valve located on Berth 3, which closed off a product receipt line from Berth 1. As a result of wear and tear, the valve did not close completely and leaked oil into the Berth 1 product receipt line. ExxonMobil was aware of this defect. In September 2005, a contractor pressure-tested the value and informed ExxonMobil that it leaked. Nevertheless, ExxonMobil had
ExxonMobil’s negligent failure to provide adequate resources and oversight to the maintenance and operation of the Everett terminal was a direct cause of the spill. In particular, ExxonMobil negligently failed to replace the leaking seal valve on Berth 3, and to replace the unpainted and corroded coupling at Berth 1, which ruptured as a result of the leakage and pressure build-up in the product receipt line. ExxonMobil also negligently allowed the spill to continue after it should have been discovered by failing adequately to monitor the transfer operations from the Nara. Although ExxonMobil’s employees were required to perform regular walk-through inspections of the berths, they failed to do so while the containment pan was spilling LSD into the Mystic River. Because the segment of the walkway over the containment pan was partially submerged when the pan filled, a routine walk-through of the berth, had one been performed, inevitably would have resulted in the detection of the spill wh
A wholly-owned subsidiary of Exxon Mobil Corp. was sentenced today with violating the criminal provisions of the Clean Water Act in connection with a spill of approximately 15,000 gallons of diesel oil into the Mystic River from Exxon Mobil’s oil terminal in Everett. ExxonMobil Pipeline Co. was sentenced for its criminal violation of the Clean Water Act in connection with the January 2006 spill and will pay a total of over $6.1 million and agree to have the Everett terminal monitored by a court-appointed observer, according to the U.S. attorney’s office.
