The Louisiana Environmental Action Network (LEAN) has filed a lawsuit against ExxonMobil accusing the oil giant of trampling state environmental laws at it’s Scenic Highway chemical plant, in Baton Rouge, by releasing 89,700 pounds more airborne pollution than it’s permits allow since May 13, 2008.
The suit brings up multiple documented chemical leaks, and failure to maintain pollution control devices, claiming these factors illustrate a clear pattern of noncompliance with state laws, and constitute a threat to public health.
According to the lawsuit, since may 2008, the company has released pollution in excess of permitted levels, 66 times.
The suit alleges that many of the chemicals released by ExxonMobil were not even covered by permits, for example, 3,800 pounds of propylene, ethylene, and flammable vapors.
Most alarming is the defendant’s report of an airborne benzene leak of "at least" 525 pounds. The leak allegedly lasted for 22 days.
Benzene is a carcinogenic organic solvent known to disrupt blood cell production in humans at exposure levels less than 1ppm. Exposure to benzene has been linked to alpastic anemia, myelodysplastic syndromes, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, as well as several types of leukemia including acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), and acute myelogenous leukemia (AML).
The LEAN vs. ExxonMobil suit seeks:
- an injunction to stop the release of un-permitted pollution
- civil penalties payed to the state
- a declaration that ExxonMobil is in violation of the Louisiana Environmental Quality Act
- plaintiff attorney and expert witness fees
Marylee Orr, executive director of LEAN said this of the continuing violations:
“It’s affecting our public health. It’s affecting the way our children learn, it’s affecting everyone in the community, it’s a confirmation that there’s a problem.”
Tags: "airborne pollution" "aplpastic anemia" "myelodysplastic syndromes" "non-Hodgkin's lymphoma" "acute lymphocytic leukemia" (ALL) "acute myelogenous leukemia" (AML), airborne pollution, ALL, AML, Benzene, ExxonMobil, Information-News, Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma
I live in South Texas on a 38,000 acre ranch that ExxonMobil has leased since the 30′s. A lot of kids around here have leukemia. I got the old soil conservation aerial photos and found out that ExxonMobil had huge pits where they burned sludge. I dug up a few pits and found that they are full of PAH (Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons).Those are linked Benzene molecules and worse than regular Benzene because they NEVER break down.
I made an album of the pits on our ranch. They are 100′s of feet wide. You can view them on my picasa photo page
http://picasaweb.google.com/toddyburns/PitsPitsPits#
I really hope people will locate the pits near them and move. We are suing ExxonMobil but it is pretty hopeless because they have so much money for lawyers. It’s best to just know about the pits and not move near them. ExxonMobil had a block of 2 million acres, almost contiguous, in South Texas. These pits are not just on our ranch.