Exxon Gets Off the Hook for Arkansas Cleanup Tab; Dead Ducks Found Soaked in Oil

[wtmusic]

"A technicality has spared Exxon from having to pay any money into the fund that will be covering most of the clean up costs of its Arkansas pipeline spill.

The cleanup efforts themselves took a sobering turn as crews found injured and dead ducks covered in oil.

The environmental impacts of an oil spill in central Arkansas began to come into focus Monday as officials said a couple of dead ducks and 10 live oily birds were found after an ExxonMobil Corp. pipeline ruptured last week."

http://thinkprogress.org/climate/2013/04/02/1810571/exxons-duck-killing-pipeline-doesnt-pay-taxes-to-oil-spill-cleanup-fund/

[Autumn]

1. Fucking hell!!!

I can't even say what I want to say.

[CrispyQ]

3. Fucking hell 2. -nt

[CrispyQ]

2. Here we go again.

Inhumane fuckers.









The free market model is flawed. Wake up before they destroy every thing of beauty on this planet.



on edit: Inhumane fuckers & 'they' are the corporate behemoths. The transnationals. The very ones our founding fathers revolted against. Artificial entities, with unique properties that living entities don't possess, claiming rights beyond which they should claim. There is a really good sci fi story in here somewhere*, but a story is all I want it to be, not a reality.


* Gibson's sprawl series? Does anybody really want to live there?

[Volaris]

17. I was thinking Shadowrun (largely based on gibson's work, as i remember)

and NO, it's not going to be a fun place to live. The only remedy is to embrace want Chris Hedges suggests:

To declare Open Warfare against the Corporate State, by seeing NOT that we elect better leaders, but that the leaders we DO elect are TERRIFIED of us.

Yes, they will call it class warfare. I don't care about their opinion anymore.

That Exxon is immune from kicking ANYTHING into the kitty to help with cleanup here (on a definitional technacality, no less) has GOT to be illegal, in some fashion or another.

I want Holder gone, like fucking YESTERDAY.

[BrotherIvan]

4. Just sadness nt

[abelenkpe]

5. Exxon doesn't have to pay?

Please tell me that can and will change asap.

[SunSeeker]

11. They didn't have to pay into a cleanup fund; not clear if they will be on the hook ultimately.

Per the article:

Exxon has confirmed that the pipeline was carrying “low-quality Wabasca Heavy crude oil from Alberta.” This oil comes from the region of Alberta where the controversial tar sands are located. Heavy crude is strip mined or boiled loose from dense underground formations that often contain a large amount of bitumen. This oil is very thick and needs to be diluted with lighter fluids in order to flow through pipelines. Reports have stated that at least 12,000 barrels of oil and water spilled into the town.

A 1980 law ensures that diluted bitumen is not classified as oil, and companies transporting it in pipelines do not have to pay into the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund. Other conventional crude producers pay 8 cents a barrel to ensure the fund has resources to help clean up some of the 54,000 barrels of pipeline oil that spilled 364 times last year.

[AlbertCat]

6. A technicality has spared Exxon from having to pay any money ...

OK... that's it!

I say nationalize all the oil companies. We pay for them already.

we pay for their products
we pay for their clean ups
we pay for their CEOs

[Jack Sprat]

14. YAY..YAY..YAY

I HEAR YE BROTHER. It's about time!

[CrispyQ]

22. This. ^^^

Nationalize the oil companies.

[Mnemosyne]

7. Corporate King of the Loopholes. Criminals all. nt

[MotherPetrie]

8. Are they immune to lawsuits too?

[Kolesar]

10. Good catch. Exxon does not pay into the fund because the pipeline carries "bitumen", not oil

But they ought to still be legally liable.

[DhhD]

9. The pipe itself may not be owned by Exon.

[Historic NY]

12. Send the bill to Canada its their oil.........!!!

[riverbendviewgal]

20. That might work

then we can tell Harper...stop the Tar Sands and the pipelines.

[SleeplessinSoCal]

13. Obama blew it!!

If Obama had identified the dangers and the bad behavior of the oil industry overall, he'd have won over some conservatives in the next midterm election. Now I don't think any of us stand a chance.

How in hell do we get our message through to the White House that they need to stand up to corruption NOW? No more kicking the can down the road.

[Jack Sprat]

15. I feel sure that Sen Imhoff

and Sen Turtleface and Congressman Ryan will make allowances to place this inconvenience on the federal tab, despite their reluctance to add to the debt burden.

[starroute]

16. So another argument against the Keystone Pipeline

Tell the average voter that they'll be on the hook for any spills -- because the companies aren't required to pay -- and that there will definitely be spills because the tar sands oil is more corrosive. (I think that's right -- wasn't there a thread about it a couple of days ago?)

That's something to push back on the "but it will create J*O*B*S" argument.

[Jack Sprat]

19. The average Teabag voter

doesn't know enough to pull down their shorts before a bowel movement. They have their kids out playing in the oil spill right now.

[midnight]

18. Too sad.... We keep asking for this to stop...

[UtahLib]

21. And the disgusting governor of my state is glorifying the fact that

Utah, one of the driest states in America, will be the first state to have a tar sands oil operation as though it should be considered a privilege. Just the thought makes me sick to my stomach.