Exxon spilled 84,000 gallons of crude oil in Arkansas
and a legal loophole will let them get away with it
Last week a pipeline carrying tar sands oil from Canada to the US broke, spilling thousands of gallons of dirty crude in Mayflower, Arkansas.
This is the same kind of pipeline as Keystone XL, carrying the same kind of oil, and, you guessed it, the same risks.
We know pipelines break.
Instead of placing the whole burden of clean up costs on taxpayers, when a company spills oil they have to pay into the federal Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.
But what if it isn’t, technically and legally, oil?
Because tar sand oil isn’t technically considered “oil” under the law, Congress and the Internal Revenue Service consider Exxon exempt from paying an 8 cents-per-barrel-spilled tax.
That’s right: Exxon doesn’t have to pay a dime. Taxpayers do.
TAKE ACTION: Tell your Representatives and the President close the loophole and prevent more spills by stopping the Keystone XL pipeline!
More information:
- RT US law says no ‘oil’ spilled in Arkansas, exempting Exxon from cleanup dues
- The Raw Story Arkansas residents evacuate as Exxon-Mobil tar sands pipeline ruptures
Instructions:
- Send/amend the sample letter to the right. Personalized letters have a much greater impact.
- Click “send your message” to send your letter.
- SHARE this alert with your friends and family via the subsequent page. Share via email, Facebook, Twitter and/or Google+
P.S. Exxon spent $2 million dollars on a pro-fracking ad campaign. I think they should pay to clean up their messes.
About Sharon Wilson
Sharon Wilson is considered a leading citizen expert on the impacts of shale oil and gas extraction. She is the go-to person whether it’s top EPA officials from D.C., national and international news networks, or residents facing the shock of eminent domain and the devastating environmental effects of natural gas development in their backyards.
- Web |
- More Posts(5121)
Thank you Sharon, very much.
So this is not oil in the pipeline? Really?
Is it some kind of mystery fluid then? With undisclosed ingredients? Now spewing
out into the streets of our cities and towns? How marvelous.
Some people object to the use of the term “Tar Sands Oil” because they find it derrogatory. I object to the use of this term for the opposite reason. This is not oil at all. We dont know just what this stuff is. I call it Diluted Bitumen. Thank you again.
It’s black death is what it is.
What’s even more sad is that this isn’t our first ‘dil-bit’ disaster… At the same time BP was vomiting all over the gulf in 2010, an Enbridge tar sands pipeline was disgorging over a million gallons of this garbage into the Kalamazoo river in Michigan. They didn’t know how to clean it up then, and they are STILL trying to clean it up in 2013!
So from that experience we learned what, exactly? That’s it’s a good idea to let Exxon pump this corrosive, toxic, gooey black hell through 65 year old deteriorated pipelines running under populated neighborhoods?