In what officials say is the largest environmental penalty ever levied by the state, ExxonMobil Corp. has agreed to pay $4 million to the Maryland Department of the Environment for a 26,000-gallon gasoline spill at a Baltimore County service station almost three years ago.
Under the agreement announced yesterday, the oil giant could face an additional annual penalty of $1 million if it does not stick to a cleanup schedule that could last several more years in Jacksonville.
The settlement stemmed from a $12 million lawsuit filed against ExxonMobil by Maryland's attorney general, Douglas F. Gansler. He said in a statement yesterday that the agreement was a significant victory for the environment and residents of the area "who have had to live with this contamination for too long."
The settlement was more than twice as large as a $1.9 million civil penalty levied against the Potomac Electric Power Company for a leak in April 2000 that sent about 111,000 gallons of oil into the Patuxent River from an underground pipeline at the Chalk Point Generating Station, the state's largest power plant.
"The size of this penalty is commensurate with the risk to critical groundwater supplies," said Shari T. Wilson, the secretary of the environment, referring to the area surrounding the Jacksonville gas station, where residents rely on the underground water table.
ExxonMobil yesterday issued a statement expressing its "sincere regrets" for the leak, stating that it has kept lines of communication open with the community while spending more than $34 million on a clean-up that has recovered the "vast majority" of the release.
"ExxonMobil takes its environmental responsibility very seriously and will continue to devote significant resources to remediate the Jacksonville site," the company stated.
Glen A. Thomas, who at the time of the spill was president of the Greater Jacksonville Association, which represents the interests of some 400 households in the area, said yesterday that he was pleased to hear of the size of the settlement.
Thomas, a 20-year resident of the area whose home is 1.5 miles northeast of the gas station, said studies of wells on at least seven private properties near the station had shown "clear contamination."
He said he approved of the requirement that ExxonMobil stay on top of cleanup efforts. "It wouldn't take much for them to say at some point, 'We've done what we care to do,' and walk away," said Thomas, who acts as a liaison with MDE officials.
