Milestones: Exxon’s violations lead to record penalty

In 2010, the NELC filed suit against ExxonMobil on behalf of Environment Texas in a case that resulted in a $14.25 million fine — the largest civil penalty ever imposed in a citizen-initiated Clean Air Act suit.

Anatoliy Gleb | Shutterstock.com

A bad neighbor in Baytown, Texas

In 2004, Baytown, Texas, located about 25 miles from downtown Houston, was home to Sharon Sprayberry.

From her house, Sharon could see the towering flares of ExxonMobil’s Baytown refinery belching fire and smoke. Before long, Sharon developed respiratory problems. By 2012, the problems were so bad she had to move. She doesn’t even visit her old friends in Baytown anymore: the air is too hard to breathe.

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Environment Texas Director Luke Metzger announces the lawsuit with attorney Philip Hilder, attorney David Nicholas and Sierra Club’s Brandt Mannchen.

10 million pounds of pollution

Sharon’s story is far from unique. Other Baytown families have moved out of fear of the air their children breathe, or hurried grandchildren indoors when the odors and haze are especially bad. That’s life when your neighbor is the largest oil and chemical refinery in the United States.

Every time Exxon’s facility burped fire or smoke, it also emitted dangerous air pollutants — and it did so on a frighteningly regular basis. Between October 2005 and September 2013, the Baytown facility unlawfully released more than 10 million pounds of carcinogens and respiratory irritants, vastly exceeding the limits permitted under the 1990 revisions to the Clean Air Act.

Like the Clean Water Act, the Clean Air Act contains a citizen enforcement clause. So, when government officials failed to stop ExxonMobil’s violations, Environment Texas put the citizen suit provision of the law to work. In 2010, the National Environmental Law Center (NELC) filed suit against ExxonMobil on behalf of Environment Texas and our members.

Staff | TPIN
NELC Senior Attorney Josh Kratka presented arguments at the ExxonMobil trial.

A David takes on a Goliath

Founded in 1990, NELC expanded on NJPIRG’s model for citizen-initiated legal action and took it nationwide. Headed by Litigation Director Chuck Caldart and Senior Attorney Josh Kratka, NELC’s legal actions have helped enforce the law against scores of polluters across the country. The ExxonMobil case would be the team’s biggest to date.

NELC and Environment Texas were taking on one of the most successful corporations in human history. Yet there was some precedent for hope. Prior to the Exxon suit, NELC suits against Shell Oil and Chevron Phillips had compelled those companies to curtail illegal discharges and pay penalties of $5.8 million and $2 million, respectively, for violations at their own Texas refineries. Yet when NELC served ExxonMobil with a notice of our intention to sue in 2009, the company made clear it was prepared to fight.

Here’s the thing, though: Exxon didn’t deny that it was polluting in excess of its operating permits. The emissions numbers cited by Environment Texas and NELC came from the company’s own self-reported metrics. Instead, Exxon argued that Baytown’s citizens had no right to sue in the first place.

In a legal battle that has lasted more than a decade, the courts have disagreed. Following a string of appeals, a federal judge announced that Exxon was responsible for 16,386 days of Clean Air Act violations and, in March 2021, levied a $14.25 million fine — the largest civil penalty ever imposed in a citizen-initiated Clean Air Act suit.

As of January 2022, Exxon has filed yet another appeal. And Baytown residents are still putting up with more pollution than they should have to tolerate. But NELC and Environment Texas aren’t backing down.

Staff | TPIN
Courtroom sketch of Luke Metzger testifying in court against ExxonMobil.
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