The Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration recently fined ExxonMobil $2.6 million for negligence after the 65-year-old Pegasus Pipeline running through Cedar Creek Lake burst in Arkansas in March 2013, according to Inside Climate News.
The fine follows ExxonMobil's agreement to pay $5 million to settle violations of the Clean Water Act and state air and water laws.
The rupture in Mayflower, Ark., polluted the community and nearby Lake Conway when an estimated 210,000 gallons of heavy Canadian crude known as diluted bitume spilled into a neighborhood, sickening residents and contaminating the lake.
ExxonMobil estimated the damage at $57 million. The spill forced the evacuation of 22 families from their homes.
The federal agency cited nine violations by the giant petroleum company that led to the rupture in a report released Oct. 1. The citations included the company failing to continually assess the aging pipeline's integrity. ExxonMobil also failed to repair four defects found during safety testing prior to the spill, according to the report
Federal officials charged that ExxonMobil knew the pipeline might be subject to seam failures.
The spill occurred on the northern leg of the 20-inch pipeline, which runs from Illinois to Texas in three segments totaling 853 miles.
The portion running through Arkansas and through neighborhoods in the Cedar Creek Lake area remains closed.
Environmentalists are concerned ExxonMobil will eventually attempt to reopen the entire pipeline. A portion of the pipeline running from Corsicana to South Texas remains operational.
Read the story by David Hasemyer at http://insideclimatenews.org
