MOSCOW (MRC) -- Louisiana's Department of Environmental Quality says Exxon Mobil Corp. has agreed to pay nearly USD2.4 million in fines, improvements and other payments to settle violations at Baton Rouge-area plants, according to Chron.
About USD2.3 million will resolve violations from 2008 into this year at four plants, including the company's Baton Rouge refinery, Agency spokeswoman Jean Kelly said in a news release Friday. Another USD62,000 is for a release of naphtha in June 2012 at the Baton Rouge Complex, she said.
The naphtha leak prompted the federal Environmental Protection Agency inspect the plant. They found violations including corroded pipes and under-developed emergency procedures.
The settlement includes at least USD1 million for beneficial environmental projects and another USD1 million in improvements at the Baton Rouge Complex.
It must be approved by the state attorney general's office before it becomes final.
The agency and Exxon Mobil also agreed to penalties for future pollution, with different amounts for different violations - increasing with time or amount of pollution.
As MRC reported earlier, last year, Exxon Mobil announced plans to increase its petrochemical manufacturing output through the expansion of its Baton Rouge and Port Allen plants in Louisiana. A company official said that the expansion project will begin by the end of this year and is expected to be completed by 2014. The USD215 mln expansion project will take the company's capital expenditures in Louisiana to over USD1 billion in three years.
ExxonMobil is the largest non-government owned company in the energy industry and produces about 3 percent of the world's oil and about 2 percent of the world's energy.
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