Exxon Pays $25M In Brooklyn Oil Spill Settlement
NEW YORK (AP) -- Exxon Mobil has agreed to pay $25 million to resolve complaints over its handling of a huge underground oil spill in Brooklyn.
The deal with Attorney General Andrew Cuomo and the environmental group Riverkeeper will resolve several years of litigation over spills from refineries that once lined the Brooklyn waterfront.
Exxon began extracting about 17 million gallons of oil from the ground 20 years ago using a network of wells, but the pace of the cleanup has frustrated neighborhood residents.
Oil has leaked continuously into Newtown Creek, which separates Brooklyn from Queens. Some people living above the oil plume had complained about fumes in their basements.
The settlement will require Exxon, which has pledged to complete the cleanup as fast as possible, to adhere to a timetable.
(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
