Yahoo News 13 Aug 09;
WASHINGTON (AFP) – US oil and gas company Exxon-Mobil has pleaded guilty to killing 85 protected birds by exposing them to hydrocarbons at sites in five different US states, the Justice Department said on Thursday.
The company pleaded guilty before a Denver court to having violated the federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act by allowing hydrocarbons to escape from uncovered natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities at sites in Colorado, Wyoming, Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
The exposure killed birds including waterfowl, hawks, ibis, and owls at Exxon-Mobil drilling and production facilities. The birds are listed as protected, but are not in danger of extinction.
The guilty plea came as part of an agreement with the government that will see Exxon-Mobil plead guilty to five charges and pay 400,000 dollars in fines and 200,000 in community service payments, the Justice Department said.
The fines will go towards a federally-administered fund to protect wetlands, while the community service payments will be divided between a bird foundation in Colorado and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation chapter in each affected state.
"The environmental compliance plan that Exxon-Mobil has agreed to in this multi-district plea agreement is an important step in protecting migratory birds in these five states," said John Cruden, acting assistant attorney general for the Justice Department's Environment and Natural Resources Division.
Exxon agrees to pay $600,000 in bird killings case
Yahoo News 13 Aug 09;
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Exxon Mobil Corp has agreed to pay $600,000 and has already spent more than $2.5 million as part of a guilty plea to killing migratory birds in five states, the U.S. Justice Department said on Thursday.
It said Exxon, the world's largest publicly traded oil and gas company, had agreed to pay $400,000 in fines and $200,000 in community service payments as part of the plea deal.
Exxon also has already spent more than $2.5 million to begin implementing an environmental compliance plan over the next three years to prevent bird deaths at its facilities, the Justice Department said.
It said Exxon pleaded guilty in federal court in Denver to violating a federal law designed to protect migratory birds.
The department said the case stemmed from the deaths of about 85 protected birds, including waterfowl, hawks and owls, at Exxon drilling and production facilities in Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas.
According to court documents, most of the birds died after exposure to hydrocarbons in uncovered natural gas well reserve pits and waste water storage facilities.
During a three-year probationary period, Texas-based Exxon must implement a plan designed to keep birds from coming into contact with oily waters at its facilities in the five states, the department said.
(Reporting by James Vicini, Editing by Lisa Von Ahn)
