Central Arkansas Water says the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil Pipeline Company are “unacceptable”, as the focus of New Jersey oil spill settlement turn towards Paulsboro.
A water utility company in central Arkansas, Central Arkansas Water, has decried the agreement between the state, federal government, and Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) Pipeline Company unacceptable. John Tina of the utility company says that he has objections to one provision that requires Exxon Mobil to treat one segment of the pipeline, which is “susceptible to longitudinal seam failure”.
An executive summary released by CAW claims that the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration regulations had a “zero tolerance” to pipeline failure. Exxon’s testing of the pipeline in 1991 and 2006 proved that these pipelines were indeed susceptible to failure.
His second objection is the second provision, which requires Exxon Mobil to provide training to employees, who would be the first responders to the spill. In this case, Central Arkansas Water thinks that the pipeline is probably not insured. It recommends that training should be provided to all first responders to the spill, including local and county state emergency responders, i.e. those who are close to the spill impact.
The third provision deals with the supplies and equipment to be located in three locations, two in Texas and one in Mayflower, which is not acceptable to the CAW since it is useless when the materials have to transport miles to the site and are deemed too insufficient.
CAW has put forward 13 new provisions as a part of the addition to the consent decree, which ranges from pipeline removal from the Lake Maumelle Watershed to ensure that local and state emergency responders receive training in spill response. Ten public officials and utilities around Central Arkansas have also given their consent on comments, which were submitted by CAW yesterday on the last day of submitting comments.
Meanwhile, on the other east side of the country, the Exxon Mobil Corporation settlement battle in New Jersey is heading for a decisive end. The deadline for public comments near its end and opponents took aim at another aspect of the deal in the town of Paulsboro with Jeff Tittel, New Jersey Sierra Club director, throwing his weight behind opponents, who said that Paulsboro would not see the dime from the settlement. Environmentalists also share the same concerns that there is no guarantee that the public settlement money would go directly to Paulsboro but have pledged not to give up the fight yet.
Exxon Mobil’s stock price ended the day at $85.24, down 0.30% from the previous day, ahead of the close in public comments on the settlements.
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