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Exxon Charged With Illegally Dumping Waste In Pennsylvania
Exxon has been charged with illegally dumping over 50,000 gallons of wastewater at a shale-gas drilling site in Pennsylvania. From the article: 'Exxon unit XTO Energy Inc. discharged the water from waste tanks at the Marquandt well site in Lycoming County in 2010, according to a statement on the website of Pennsylvania’s attorney general. The pollution was found during an unannounced visit by the state’s Department of Environmental Protection.
The inspectors discovered a plug removed from a tank, allowing the wastewater to run onto the ground, polluting a nearby stream. XTO was ordered to remove 3,000 tons of soil to clean up the area. Wastewater discharged from natural-gas wells can contain chlorides, barium, strontium and aluminum, the attorney general’s statement showed.
“Criminal charges are unwarranted and legally baseless,” the XTO unit said yesterday in a statement posted on its website. “There was no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct by XTO.”'
I'm getting sick of these companies getting away with fines or other slaps on the wrist. I want to see at least some of these thugs in the upper tiers behind bars!
If computers were people, I'd be a misanthrope.
Explain that one to me again?
Crimey
And it will continue to happen, no matter the technology.
Nuke, frak, solar panel production, high capacity battery production....some idiot middle manager will try to reduce costs at his level, and this is what we get.
If I were a protester attempting to shut it down, or prevent it from ever firing up, I would get two years on terrorism charges.
Golden Rule baby. You know the routine.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
they're your ruling class, silly. We don't spill the blood of kings.
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when it's a mistake it's 'some middle manager' but whenever something goes right it's 'the CEO's leadership'. Man, I wish I could fsck up and my job all day and blame all the guys that don't get to make any real decisions...
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I'm not sure the public is surprised these days by either talk of a violation/spill or a 'statement' from the corp insisting no wrong doing occurred. This is driven, as always, by the corp. lawyers. They want as little talk of culpability as possible in public so they can cut deals in court and get their client off with as little penalty as they can swing.
What I want to see is the difference between legal and illegal 'dumping'. Sounds redundant, emotional and perhaps an attempt to make things either worse than they actually were - something a prosecutor wants on the public record? If that's the case here, it's a shame because it just muddies the waters for change in the way 'dumping' could otherwise be better controlled when serious events take place. They will happen - it's the reduction in bonehead moves before and after I want changed.
From TFA:
XTO Energy Inc. is charged with five counts of unlawful conduct under the Clean Streams Law and three counts of unlawful conduct under the Solid Waste Management Act.
What does it mean for a corporation to face criminal charges? Is this just civil damages in a weird format, or is a specific person/people being held liable? Both linked articles refer only to XTO and not to any individual being charged.
William of Ockham had no beard. The most likely explanation is that it was chewed off by squirrels every morning.
“There was no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct by XTO.”'
Soooo... what you're saying here is, your employees are incompetent?
They save money and my gas bill is cheaper.
My friend had a 50,000 gallon above-ground pool in his backyard. If it's even a problem due to exotic chemicals, make them clean it up. It's not that much.
Why the hell is this a topic aside from obvious desire by some for disasterbation? It would barely be a local news story in some small town.
So the company has the decision to make...
(a) $x to dispose of the waste properly
(b) $0 to simply turn on a tap and let the waste drain away, and (say) $10x to clean it up in the unlikely event that they get caught, which probably comes out of some other departments budget anyway
Seems that if there is no actual penalty for (b), then (b) is the obvious choice and it's going to keep happening, which I think is kind of a big deal. It should either be illegal with penalties to suit, or legal and let them do it without any fuss.
If you threw some rubbish on the ground and were caught, and the only penalty was that you had to pick your rubbish up again, where is the incentive to stop doing it again? (assuming you are too lazy to do the right thing in the first place without some incentive)
In Q2 2010, (around when the dumping was occurring), Exxon reported its worst quarterly profits in years. Some might say that explains this, while not excusing this. Corporate pressure to cut budgets was driving lower managers, etc. However, in that -low- quarter, guess how much net profit (not gross revenue) they reported?
6.86 billion dollars
(source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/08/01/exxon-2q-profit-lowest-since-2010/2608403/ )
Yep. In one fucking poor quarter they earned nearly 7 billion in profit. But could not bother to dump waste properly. And this was in the USA, with relatively strict, if often bought, environmental laws and protections. Can you imagine what companies like this do in places that do not care or cannot afford enforcement? Where the African dictator of the month just wants a few million to arm his army of children that go village raping?
This is the type of activity we should be pursuing and punishing. Not Syria, let them kill each other off if they want, lets not make enemies of both sides by dropping bombs and killing innocents (which does happen). Not pot smokers and growers. Not lil Suzy mp3 torrenter. Not Aaron Swartz. Not Snowden.
Anyway, I am done ranting, if you stayed through it you can go back to Football/Idol/TMZ now. Cheers
Silence is a state of mime.
"The inspectors discovered a plug removed from a tank, allowing the wastewater to run onto the ground, polluting a nearby stream." ...
“There was no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct by XTO.”'
Not intentional.... okay.
Not reckless nor negligent?! I think someone needs to check the meaning of those words in a non-lawyer dictionary.
I say don't drink and drive, you might spill your drink. Before you get behind the wheel just stop and think.
Of big business controlling the gov't
Why not just fine Exxon 3 billion dollars and send everyone in PA to college for free?
That wasn't "wastewater", that was Exxon's proprietary formula of Hydroxylic Acid. And any children who are found with Hyrdoxylic Acid in their bloodstream better get ready get sued by Exxon.
Job CreatorsTM, bitches!
You are welcome on my lawn.
If they weren't negligent, it wouldn't have happened. If I hit someone, accidentally, with my car and they die, I still get charged. If corporations want to have "people" rights when it comes to campaign finance, they can suffer the consequences when they fuck up like this, intentionally or not.
Their full article can be viewed here. One of the especially cute things I find on the page is that they give an image of a parking lot, a truck, and some grass to the side. The caption invites the viewer to "[n]ote the... absence of long-term environmental impact." Sorry, XTO, but having green grass on the side of your parking lot does not prove a lack of long-term environmental impact. Not to mention the fact that putting in the parking lot has some significant impacts in and of itself...
I wonder what would happen if the fine was large and applied to fund more random inspections. I think it would show they are routinely flaunting the law. If there was any effective law enforcement it might even show a criminal conspiracy. Fortunately no one has to worry about that, because the real outcome will be the result of political pressure to stop inspections.
Why is Snark Required?
You all realize that the amount of water spilled is only 50,000 gallons; That's approximately 1/10th the volume of an Olympic swimming pool.
attorney general’s statement showed. “Criminal charges are unwarranted and legally baseless,”
Of course they won't prosecure.
Professional courtesy.
From one criminal to another. The big banks were also afforded this courtesy, of arbitrary refusal to prosecute by the US AG.
This could cost Exxon HUNDREDS of dollars!
Damn those socialist Democrats!
They're interfering with a company doing business the way it wants to do. And thanks to them, all our gas prices are gonna go up now.
Companies never pay taxes or fines, they just raise prices and pass them on to us, the consumer.
We Liberals, real Liberals, need to work together and fight this bullshit. Get rid of those nasty environmental laws because they don't accomplish anything. If you don't like the way a company is dealing with its hazardous waste, don't buy their products and encourage others to do the same. Let the free market take care of things.
1. Almost any swimming pool will have a some chlorides, such as sodium chloride. The ocean has even more. Salt water is a common by-product in oil and gas wells.
2. The article says "Wastewater discharged from natural-gas wells can contain chlorides, barium, strontium and aluminum", not that it does. That is hype.
3. Some idiot pulled a plug in a waste tank. It's not a corporate conspiracy. No major oil company would risk dumping wastewater like that.
That's what I get for 189 tons of water.
Does anyone else get something different?
Chlorides, barium, strontium and aluminum? I suppose that it was not as bad as water from the Great Salt Lake.
Most criminals will deny their crimes. We just have to figure out if someone removed the plug intentionally or if it was an accident and the plug came out on its own. But if it came out on its own, they are still liable for buying cheap plugs.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
and instead visited more sites. It is possible that this was an exception, however, this might also be standard practice. Now, it will not be known.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
The fines will merely paid from the budget entry titled: The Cost Of Doing Business.
Dollar-wise, it's right below the amount spent on office chairs.
Yes, 'hauled away'... somewhere... somewhere else... someone else's problem...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuyahoga_River#Environmental_concerns
NOTHING about this being the maximum release.
That's a good point. But I can't guess better than the grand jury.
W..w..W - Willy Waterloo washes Warren Wiggins who is washing Waldo Woo.
Not maintaining your equipment is pretty much the definition of negligence.
You forgot the third option, which may or may not be available to Exxon depending on how they work with subsidiaries and/or sub-contractors: declare bankruptcy leaving the clean-up to the taxpayers.
Ultra Slim To jest rodzaj dziaalnoci powinnimy si cigania i nakadania kar. Nie Syria, niech zabijaj si nawzajem, jeli chc, pozwala nie zniechca do obu stron, zrzucajc bomby i zabijajc niewinnych ludzi (co si zdarza). Nie palaczy pot i hodowców. Nie lil Suzy mp3 torrenter. Nie Aaron Swartz. Nie Snowden.
Doesn't "Cleanup" just mean paying some mafia truckers to move the waste to another place such as, usually, a landfill?
we can jail the subcontractors while the people at the top get a big bonus
Seriously, you are all assuming that this was not only done by XTO, not only done intentionally, but also done under orders from Exxon management. How do you know that this wasn't done by some radical luddite with the express purpose of casting dispersions on the company, the drilling tech, and fossil fuels in general? You can spout off all you want but the fact of the matter is that you weren't there and you don't have any documents that show the plug removal was ordered so you can't say for sure who is to blame.
>“There was no intentional, reckless or negligent misconduct by XTO.”'
Do they realize that just leaves stupidity?
Or Salon. The tea party was a bought and paid for made up movement by the rich to push their agenda of low taxes, no regulation and no social safety net. They had tens if not hundreds of millions of dollars behind them. Christ, Fox news used to run stories about 'spontaneous' tea-party gatherings a week in advance.
OWS was a real grass roots movement. And like all grass roots movements it was relentlessly pounded into the ground. My favorite part was when they used the Patriot Act to mobilize local law enforcement against it. Remember when we got promised it would never be used on US soil? Yeah, nobody else did either...
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