page_title: 2013 Mayflower oil spill
section_title: Legal action
hierarchical_section_title: 2013 Mayflower oil spill / Legal action
caption_attribution_description: English: Mayflower oil spill - Subdivision5
context_page_description: The 2013 Mayflower oil spill occurred on March 29, 2013, when the Pegasus Pipeline, owned by ExxonMobil and carrying Canadian Wabasca heavy crude from the Athabasca oil sands, ruptured in Mayflower, Arkansas, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock releasing about 3,190 barrels of oil. Approximately 12,000 barrels of oil and water mix was recovered. Twenty-two homes were evacuated. The United States Environmental Protection Agency classified the leak as a major spill.
  Exxon's Pegasus pipeline carries 95,000 barrels per day of crude a distance of 850 miles from Patoka, Illinois to Nederland, Texas. On April 2, 2013, PHMSA, the federal pipeline regulator, issued a corrective action order until repairs have been completed and all safety concerns addressed.
context_section_description: Residents of Mayflower are seeking payment from ExxonMobil for the environmental damage caused by the spill. By initiating action, they've forced the state and federal governments to file a lawsuit against the company. According to Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel, the lawsuit came quickly—within three months after the spill—but he said that the governments were forced to act. Citizens may file suits in lieu of the government, if the government won't act. A threatened lawsuit from displaced residents forced the state and federal government to file suit, or lose the opportunity. "We had 60 days to either resolve our claims or be masters of our own ship and, certainly, I think that the Department of Justice and the State Attorney General’s office have a responsibility to litigate on behalf of the governments of the state and the federal government rather than abdicating that to private lawyers," McDaniel said. Commenting about ExxonMobil, McDaneil added: "I think that they have done a really good job with response and cleanup, but then they break the law when they store the stuff that they removed from the site." The company had stored materials, including soil, water, concrete and wood chips, in large barrels at a company-owned site nearby. Arkansas officials had not granted permission to store hazardous material and have ordered the company to stop immediately.
  According to Fox 16 News, local residents banded together on April 5, 2013 and April 8, 2013 at a "Mayflower Oil Spill Town Meeting hosted by Johnson & Vines Attorneys" to discuss their legal rights. Since that time, in addition to the State action file by the Attorney General, a mass action has been filed by two law firms in Arkansas state court in Faulkner County, Arkansas: Johnson & Vines (member of the American Injury Attorney Group) and partnering firm, Hare, Wynn, Newell & Newton.
  In 2015, ExxonMobil settled charges that it violated the federal Clean Water Act and state environmental laws, for $5.07 million, including $4.19 million in civil penalties. It did not admit liability.
caption: Damage to house
exif: {"Image Software": "Picasa", "Image DateTime": "2013:04:07 11:19:12", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image ExifOffset": "96", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "364", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "6593", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:04:07 10:47:15", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1280", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "960", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "1280", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "960", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "228", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "06a26fc110e36cb25831fdf27de60923"}