Exxonmobil

We were very disappointed to read in the Sun on Tuesday that the Maryland Department of the Environment had approved a request from ExxonMobil to stop monitoring 130 residential wells it had contaminated in Jacksonville in 2006 and to discontinue bottled water to 126 homes ("Exxon ruling draws protest," Mar. 2). While the recovery and remediation work has had significant success in retrieving gasoline and its related contaminants, this man-made disaster has not always been predictable, and residents whose homes and lives have been impacted should not be subject to uncertainty about the safety of their well water until it is clear that the entire area is completely clear of MTBE and other contaminants from the 26,000 gallon leak.

Maryland's top court agreed Wednesday to hear appeals of two multimillion verdicts affecting hundreds of Jacksonville-area residents who sued ExxonMobil Corp. over 2006 underground gasoline leak. The Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in October in the two cases. Last year, a Baltimore County jury returned a $1.5 billion verdict against the oil giant. ExxonMobil appealed, and attorneys for residents asked the top court to bypass the intermediate appeals court. In March, in the second case, the state's second-highest court rejected much of a $147 million verdict, and both ExxonMobil and the residents appealed.

ExxonMobil must resume testing 130 residential wells in the Jacksonville area that were affected by a huge underground gasoline leak in 2006, according to a directive from the Maryland Department of the Environment. The oil giant also has been told to resume deliveries of free bottled water to 126 households in the northern Baltimore County neighborhood. Both changes are contingent on a final MDE decision, expected by May 1. The MDE order, conveyed to ExxonMobil in a letter dated Wednesday, follows a public rebuke of the agency by Gov. Martin O'Malley on March 3. He objected to the agency granting a request from the oil company that it be permitted to stop testing the private wells and providing bottled water to area residents.

The oversized windows of Hans Wilhelmsen's house in Jacksonville command a view to the east of hills dotted with baled hay and stands of oak, maple and pine on the 70 acres he owns a mile south of where an Exxon station unleashed an underground flood of unleaded gasoline five years ago. Thirteen bison patrolled the fields then, but they're gone now, and Wilhelmsen is sure he knows why. "We saw six die at one time" about two years ago, Wilhelmsen said....

Maryland's top court agreed Wednesday to hear appeals of two multimillion verdicts affecting hundreds of Jacksonville-area residents who sued ExxonMobil Corp. over 2006 underground gasoline leak. The Court of Appeals is expected to hear arguments in October in the two cases. Last year, a Baltimore County jury returned a $1.5 billion verdict against the oil giant. ExxonMobil appealed, and attorneys for residents asked the top court to bypass the intermediate appeals court. In March, in the second case, the state's second-highest court rejected much of a $147 million verdict, and both ExxonMobil and the residents appealed.

State environmental officials said yesterday that ExxonMobil is responsible for a larger area of cleanup surrounding a now-demolished service station in Fallston believed to be the source of one of the largest incidents of well contamination in Maryland history. In response to a March report submitted by ExxonMobil in which the company denied responsibility for about half the area around the site, the Maryland Department of the Environment directed ExxonMobil to broaden its remediation area to include the area north of the station in addition to the southern area, for which the company has already conceded responsibility.

The newly merged ExxonMobil Corp. has just taken a giant step backward by discontinuing benefits to domestic partners.ExxonMobil announced recently that it will end Mobil's previous practice of providing benefits to the domestic partners of gay or lesbian employees. Current workers who had the benefits from Mobil will get to keep them, but anyone hired after November -- and longtime Mobil employees who begin new relationships -- is out of luck.Ending domestic-partner benefits is not only unfair, it also bucks industry trends.

Baltimore County jurors returned a verdict for punitive damages against ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday that raises the total award stemming from an underground gasoline leak in 2006 to more than $1.5 billion, a figure that a plaintiffs' lawyer says could make it the largest judgment ever in a case of this type. A review of the final verdict, released in full Friday, shows that it includes more than $1 billion in new awards divided among 160 families and businesses in the small north county community of Jacksonville, plus compensatory damages awarded earlier in the week.

A Baltimore County jury has ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay more than $495 million to compensate a group of Jacksonville families and businesses for claims of lost property value, emotional distress and medical monitoring resulting from a 2006 underground gasoline leak — and damages could continue to grow. The Circuit Court jury was scheduled to continue working Thursday to decide an amount to award the 160 families and businesses in punitive damages, which could be several times higher.

ExxonMobil Corp. has lost its bid to avoid paying punitive damages in a case stemming from an underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County in 2006, but how much the international company will have to pay remains to be seen as the case continues in Circuit Court on Wednesday. A six-member civil jury retired for the day Tuesday after returning a sealed judgment intended to compensate families and businesses for damages — plaintiffs had claimed lost property values, medical monitoring and emotional stress.

Baltimore County jurors returned a verdict for punitive damages against ExxonMobil Corp. on Thursday that raises the total award stemming from an underground gasoline leak in 2006 to more than $1.5 billion, a figure that a plaintiffs' lawyer says could make it the largest judgment ever in a case of this type. A review of the final verdict, released in full Friday, shows that it includes more than $1 billion in new awards divided among 160 families and businesses in the small north county community of Jacksonville, plus compensatory damages awarded earlier in the week.

A Baltimore County jury has ordered Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay more than $495 million to compensate a group of Jacksonville families and businesses for claims of lost property value, emotional distress and medical monitoring resulting from a 2006 underground gasoline leak — and damages could continue to grow. The Circuit Court jury was scheduled to continue working Thursday to decide an amount to award the 160 families and businesses in punitive damages, which could be several times higher.

ExxonMobil Corp. has lost its bid to avoid paying punitive damages in a case stemming from an underground gasoline leak in northern Baltimore County in 2006, but how much the international company will have to pay remains to be seen as the case continues in Circuit Court on Wednesday. A six-member civil jury retired for the day Tuesday after returning a sealed judgment intended to compensate families and businesses for damages — plaintiffs had claimed lost property values, medical monitoring and emotional stress.

ExxonMobil Corp. lawyers presented their first witnesses Monday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, opening their defense in a lengthy jury trial after an underground gasoline leak in 2006 - one of the most serious in Maryland's history. Two witnesses - an ExxonMobil territory manager and the then-president of the Greater Jacksonville Association - gave their accounts of the day they learned of the leak of about 25,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline and the weeks after, as fear spread through the Jacksonville community of about 4,000 households in northern Baltimore County.About 150 plaintiffs represented by the Peter G. Angelos law firm are suing ExxonMobil for compensatory and punitive damages in a trial that began in January.

The individual accounts presented in your retrospective of the gasoline spill fail to adequately encapsulate the unremitting heartache wrought by the over 26,000 gallons of gasoline that leaked undetected for a month below the Jacksonville Exxon in early 2006 ("Five years later, Jacksonville still grapples with gas spill," April 6). I have spent much of the last five years visiting with friends and neighbors in the community, haggling with ExxonMobil and the Maryland Department of the Environment over well testing and an array of remediation efforts.

ExxonMobil must resume testing 130 residential wells in the Jacksonville area that were affected by a huge underground gasoline leak in 2006, according to a directive from the Maryland Department of the Environment. The oil giant also has been told to resume deliveries of free bottled water to 126 households in the northern Baltimore County neighborhood. Both changes are contingent on a final MDE decision, expected by May 1.The MDE order, conveyed to ExxonMobil in a letter dated Wednesday, follows a public rebuke of the agency by Gov. Martin O'Malley on March 3. He objected to the agency granting a request from the oil company that it be permitted to stop testing the private wells and providing bottled water to area residents.

ExxonMobil Corp. lawyers presented their first witnesses Monday in Baltimore County Circuit Court, opening their defense in a lengthy jury trial after an underground gasoline leak in 2006 — one of the most serious in Maryland's history. Two witnesses — an ExxonMobil territory manager and the then-president of the Greater Jacksonville Association — gave their accounts of the day they learned of the leak of about 25,000 gallons of regular unleaded gasoline and the weeks after, as fear spread through the Jacksonville community of about 4,000 households in northern Baltimore County.

ExxonMobil Corp. abruptly closed its service station in Fallston yesterday under mounting pressure from residents, who blame seepage from the station for the contamination of their drinking water. ExxonMobil said the move was a "business decision" based on the profitability of the station at Routes 152 and 165 west of Bel Air in Harford County. Business sagged recently because of nearby roadwork and publicity about the contamination, the company said. "When we looked at the decline in business, the rationale for keeping it open was not there," Jim McDonald, ExxonMobil's dealer sales manager, said in a statement.

ExxonMobil must resume testing 130 residential wells in the Jacksonville area that were affected by a huge underground gasoline leak in 2006, according to a directive from the Maryland Department of the Environment. The oil giant also has been told to resume deliveries of free bottled water to 126 households in the northern Baltimore County neighborhood. Both changes are contingent on a final MDE decision, expected by May 1. The MDE order, conveyed to ExxonMobil in a letter dated Wednesday, follows a public rebuke of the agency by Gov. Martin O'Malley on March 3. He objected to the agency granting a request from the oil company that it be permitted to stop testing the private wells and providing bottled water to area residents.