Colossal fossil ExxonMobil will pay a US$14.25-million penalty, the largest ever fine for a citizen complaint under the U.S. Clean Air Act, after the Supreme Court declined to hear its appeal in an air pollution lawsuit against its Baytown, Texas petrochemical refinery.
The case dates back to 2010, when Environment Texas and the U.S. Sierra Club sued Exxon in federal court on behalf of neighbours affected by the plant.
"The Supreme Court's denial means a December ruling from the U.S. 5th Circuit Court of Appeals will remain in place," Houston Public Radio reports. The appeals court upheld the penalty against the Baytown plant, which released more than 10 million pounds of pollution over 16,386 consecutive days.
"The plaintiffs said the facility routinely exceeded limits under the Clean Air Act on emissions of harmful air pollutants, affecting the daily lives and health of people who live and work nearby by emitting toxic, carcinogenic, and ozone-forming chemicals," Reuters writes. "Houston-based U.S. District Judge David Hittner in 2017 issued a $19.95-million penalty to Exxon, finding it was responsible for the pollution from the Baytown complex between 2005 and 2013."
"The headline here is: David slays Goliath in pollution case," Neil Carman, clean air director at Sierra Club's Lone Star Chapter, said in a release. "Our members in Baytown knew Exxon might fight this case all the way to the Supreme Court, but we matched Exxon's persistence so the company could not escape responsibility for its years of illegal air pollution."
Exxon "pressed the Supreme Court to change the constitutional and statutory requirements governing private citizens' 'standing' to use the federal courts to enforce federal environmental laws," the release recounts.
But "at trial, Exxon's neighbours bravely testified to the harms they suffered from the company's illegal pollution, painting an ugly picture of what it's like to live in Exxon's shadow," said Josh Kratka, managing attorney at the U.S. National Environmental Law Center and one of the plaintiffs' lead attorneys. "The Supreme Court saw through Exxon's claim that its neighbours shouldn't have the right to hold the company accountable for compliance with the Clean Air Act."
And with that, "Exxon's belly-flop in front of the Supreme Court confirms that constitutional standing for neighbours enforcing federal environmental laws is alive and well," added attorney David A. Nicholas. "Suffering citizens can continue to enforce federal environmental laws like the Clean Air Act when the government won't."
Source: The Energy Mix
