Exxon: Refuse utility in spill suit

Judge told utility chose pipe’s path

An Exxon Mobil filing in U.S. District Court on Friday urged the judge considering a proposed settlement among the state, the U.S. Justice Department and the oil giant to disregard a letter from Central Arkansas Water that sought a delay or rejection of the deal.

The proposed consent decree would settle a lawsuit that the state and federal governments filed against Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. and Mobil Pipe Line Co. after the Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower's Northwoods neighborhood on March 29, 2013, and spilled tens of thousands of gallons of heavy crude into the neighborhood, drainage ditches and a cove of Lake Conway.

Central Arkansas Water's letter assailed the federal government for dismissing the utility's request to move the Pegasus pipeline away from the watershed of Lake Maumelle, which provides drinking water for more than 400,000 people. The underground pipeline runs through about 13.4 miles of the lake's watershed.

In response to the letter, Exxon Mobil Pipeline Co. and Mobil Pipe Line Co. said the utility's main concern was the proximity of a portion of the pipeline near Lake Maumelle in Pulaski County that was not involved in the Mayflower incident in Faulkner County.

The oil company also cited a 1956 agreement between Little Rock Municipal Water Works and Magnolia Pipe Line Co. -- both predecessors to the current entities involved -- during work to create the lake, which was finished in 1958.

The pipeline was built in 1947-48.

"The 1956 Agreement set forth the new route of the pipeline around the proposed lake, required the water utility to pay the company $376,000 for the relocation work, and required the utility to grant easements over any city land crossed by the relocated pipeline," the letter said. "The current location of the Pegasus Pipeline near Lake Maumelle is precisely where the water utility specified it."

The letter also noted that the federal Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration has primary jurisdiction over most of Central Arkansas Water's issues with the pipeline and that the utility's letter should not be "entertained by the court."

"CAW -- a sophisticated entity with its own legal department -- is not a party to this matter, has never sought such status, and now attempts an end-run around the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure," the response said.

The Justice Department said in a Wednesday filing that the federal court does not have the authority to order the removal of the pipeline.

"CAW now asserts that the Consent Decree should only be entered if it can eliminate all of the risks posed to the watershed by the Pegasus Pipeline, presumably by a requirement that ExxonMobil remove or relocate the entire pipeline," the Justice Department wrote in its response.

"However, courts are 'not empowered to rewrite ... settlements agreed upon by the parties,'" the department wrote, citing a 1982 decision by a federal appeals court.

"Thus CAW advocates for action beyond the scope of the [District] Court's role in deciding whether to enter the Consent Decree. ... If CAW believes that pipeline removal is an appropriate remedy for its concerns, it is, of course, free to pursue those concerns through its own advocacy."

Metro on 08/01/2015

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Mayflower oil spill

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