Fines for Crimes Like This Should Put Exxon Out of Business Permanently

Because nothing else will make them stop. I doubt even imprisoning their top executives would change anything; they'd just promote a new set and carry on.

And with every pocket-change fine for destroying an entire community for generations to come, companies like the Bluegrass Pipeline's Williams Co. get more confident that they can fuck over landowners with impunity, because the state and federal government will do nothing to stop them.


Kiley Kroh at Think Progress:

Federal pipeline safety regulators announced on Thursday that they are proposing a $2.6 million fine against ExxonMobil after a ruptured pipeline spilled thousands of barrels of oil in Mayflower, Arkansas this past March.

Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration said in a letter to Exxon that the company had violated pipeline safety regulations and failed to notify the agency that the pipe, built before 1970, was susceptible to rupture.

“The really disconcerting thing about the violations listed is how they fly in the face of what the industry keeps saying about their efforts to make pipelines safe through their integrity management plans,” said Carl Weimer, Executive Director of the watchdog group Pipeline Safety Trust, via email. “This type of ERW pipe has been known for years to have serious problems and this Notice of Violation makes it clear that Exxon did not recognize the risk or prioritize their testing program correctly to protect people or the environment.”

The fine is a drop in the bucket for Exxon, which earned $7.8 billion in the third quarter of 2013 alone, and whose profits through September top $24 billion.

The spill has taken a tremendous toll on the people of Mayflower and cleanup is far from complete. The ruptured pipeline gushed 210,000 gallons of heavy Canadian crude into a residential street and forced the evacuation of 22 homes. In July, Exxon told homeowners it was ending temporary housing payments before residents felt it was safe to move back.

“It’s horrible,” resident Amber Bartlett told Inside Climate News. “They want us to go back now. We’re not comfortable with that, because no one really knows if long-term health effects are linked to exposure to this.”

SNIP

As long as the bulk of the responsibility for testing and maintaining the rapidly expanding network of oil and gas pipelines across the U.S. remains with the companies themselves, observers fear there may be more Mayflowers in store. “It has become clear from a series of significant failures over the past few years that trusting the industry with this level of responsibility has not worked, and it is time for the regulators to step in with stronger oversight,” said Weimer.

SNIP

Weimer said fining a company like Exxon, which routinely accrues tens of billions in profits, just $2.6 million “is like fining a motorist that drives in a manner that recklessly endangers the public $2.50. No one thinks that level of fine for reckless driving would change anyone’s behavior, so why would anyone think $2.6 million would change Exxon’s behavior?”