Environmentalists sue ExxonMobil over air laws

[cory777]

Source: Associated Press

HOUSTON — The largest oil refinery in the United States released more than 8 million pounds of illegal pollution in the past five years, violating the federal Clean Air Act thousands of times, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday by environmental groups in Texas.

The lawsuit against ExxonMobil is the latest by Sierra Club and Environment Texas as part of their campaign to rein in what they call "illegal emissions" by dozens of refineries and chemical plants that operate in the Texas Gulf Coast. In recent months, the groups have reached multimillion-dollar, out-of-court settlements with Shell and Chevron Phillips after filing similar suits.

ExxonMobil denied the allegations and said it would fight the lawsuit. In the past five years, the Exxon refinery in Baytown has produced annual emissions that are 40 percent lower than the limits set by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, spokesman Kevin Allexon said in a statement. Since 2003, Exxon has invested nearly $1.3 billion in the Baytown facility to improve environmental performance, he added.

"ExxonMobil works hard to operate within regulatory standards while continuing to make significant improvements in its environmental performance through emissions controls, technology enhancements and process changes," Allexon said. "We are proud of our investment in — and improvement of — environmental performance at the Baytown complex."

Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/business/7338765.html

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[BeFree]

1. What exxon really means

When they say: "We are proud of our investment in — and improvement of — environmental performance at the Baytown complex."...

They really mean they are proud they got away with polluting the air for a long, long time.

[Dont_Bogart_the_Pretzel]

2. 40 percent lower than the limits set by the U.S. EPA... Bush's EPA

Didn't Bush/Cheney "move the goal post"?