Arkansas ExxonMobil oil spill even worse than thought

Arkansas ExxonMobil oil spill even worse than thought




Published time: April 11, 2013 16:16


Edited time: April 12, 2013 11:37














Tags

Accident, Biology, Ecology, Health, Scandal, Security, USA


An Arkansas state attorney general has announced that
the ExxonMobil pipeline rupture that has leaked thousands of barrels of
oil in central Arkansas is “substantially larger” than initially
believed, but that the size of the leak still remains unknown.


Cleanup crews have already recovered about 28,200 barrels of
‘oily water’ and 2,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and debris,
but may still have a long way to go before all of the 22 residents
evacuated from Mayflower, Arkansas, can return to their homes.
Follow
RT's in-depth day-by-day timeline on the Arkansas oil
spill

The company has remained largely mute about the extent of the
spill. A no-fly zone above the disaster area has restricted media
access, and ExxonMobil has kept quiet about the estimated size of
the oil spill.
“The pipeline rupture is substantially larger than many of us
initially thought,” State Attorney General Dustin McDaniel told
reporters on Wednesday. McDaniel’s office has launched an
investigation into the spill and has asked ExxonMobil to keep all
documents relating to the spill and the cleanup efforts.
While members of the cleanup crew scour the empty streets in
Hazmat suits, the bodies of oil-drenched wildlife continue to be
recovered, and local residents complain
of emerging health problems, many have already suspected that the
damage may be greater than ExxonMobil claims.
“We still do not know how much oil was released. We still do
not know the exact makeup of the crude itself, of the chemical
solvents used in the transportation process,” McDaniel
said.
“More documents will be received and requested from Exxon in
coming days,” he added. “But now everyone’s priority
continues to be the cleanup efforts in Mayflower.”
Lawyers and investigators are currently reviewing more than
12,500 pages of documents ExxonMobil submitted to McDaniel’s
office. Included in these are inspection and maintenance records
about the Pegasus pipeline, where an enormous rupture erupted tens
of thousands of barrels of Canadian tar sands.
This rupture caused at least 500,000 gallons of tar sands crude
and contaminated water to seep into the Mayflower community. About
140 live animals affected by the spill have been captured, only 13
of them have been released, according to an update from the
Mayflower Incident Unified Command Joint Information Center.

In order to force ExxonMobil’s cooperation in the investigation,
McDaniel had to issue a subpoena
for the documents and data about the Pegasus pipeline. Earlier this
week, the attorney general estimated that about 600 emergency
responders were employed in the cleanup effort. Exxon on Wednesday
said the number is closer to 700. With such a large crew and a
cleanup effort that is “just not going great”, McDaniel had
already predicted that the spill was no small matter.
“I hope they realize for the homeowners in this area, it is
not small. It is catastrophic. For those who fear their drinking
water, it is not great,” he said.
On Thursday, officials told AP that some evacuated residents may
be able to return to their homes this week. Mayflower residents of
four homes will be able to return Thursday and another “eight or
nine” could return in the next few days, federal on-scene
coordinator Nick Brescia told reporters.
Exxon has already promised to compensate victims of the oil
spill and has donated $15,000 to an elementary school in the
region.
"A lot of children were affected negatively, some directly,
some indirectly," Mayflower Elementary School Superintendent
John Gray told KTHV TV.
But due to legal guidelines that fail to define diluted bitumen
-- the substance that inundated Mayflower -- as oil, the
corporation may not be required to contribute to the federal
government’s oil spillage cleanup fund – making their donations
pocket change in comparison to the cost of contributing to the
cleanup fund.
Exxon claims that as of Wednesday, most of its free-standing oil
has been recovered. But Mayflower is forecast to experience severe
storms throughout Thursday, which have been a cause of concern for
the cleanup crew. Exxon says it is strengthening its containment
system in wake of the weather forecasts.
But Exxon is unlikely to leave anytime soon: even after removing
free-standing oil, cleanup crews still have to power wash
sidewalks, take out contaminated vegetation, put down new lawns,
and remove the oil from less accessible areas.
And with a spill that is “substantially larger” than
initially believed, the cleanup process could take an undefined,
but substantially longer, time to complete.


Source:-
http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-exxon-oil-spill-701/