(From the AP article): "Exxon Mobil Corp. has asked federal regulators to reconsider a $1 million penalty imposed against the oil giant over a 63,000-gallon crude oil spill into Montana's Yellowstone River. The Texas-based company asked the Department of Transportation to withdraw three of its four findings of pipeline safety violations. It also asked for the penalty amount to be reduced.
"Safety regulators said Exxon Mobil failed to adequately heed warnings that its 20-year-old Silvertip Pipeline was at risk from flooding. An Exxon attorney said in the petition for reconsideration filed Feb. 12, that the company was justified in determining flooding was not a great danger following a 2010 risk assessment. That conclusion proved wrong. The spill left oil along an 85-mile stretch of the Yellowstone, killing fish and wildlife, and prompting a cleanup that took months."
This company makes huge profits AND gets tax breaks from the government, and now they want to dodge their financial responsibility to return the devastated environment to the condition it was in before THEIR pipeline leaked!?! Unbelievable gall! For those of us who live in Montana, I demand that the Department of Transportation hold them to the original judicially-determined penalty and cleanup requirements. Using a portion of their exorbitant profits to fix their mistakes may make them more careful about maintaining their equipment and facilities against future spills.
