Pa. sues oil firms in gasoline spills
Pennsylvania is suing oil companies over environmental damage caused by a chemical additive used in gasoline, as well as reimbursement over the alleged misuse of state funds to clean up gasoline spills.
Pennsylvania is suing oil companies over environmental damage caused by a chemical additive used in gasoline, as well as reimbursement over the alleged misuse of state funds to clean up gasoline spills.
Attorney General Kathleen G. Kane and Gov. Corbett's general counsel, James Schultz, filed separate lawsuits Thursday in Philadelphia Common Pleas Court.
The first lawsuit seeks to recover millions of dollars paid by the state to clean up "the widespread pollution and harm done to Pennsylvania's waters" caused by gasoline containing the additive known as MTBE, according to a statement released by the state Attorney General's Office.
Joshua Maus, press secretary for the Governor's Office of General Counsel, said 52 companies were named in the lawsuit, which includes the oil companies and their subsidiaries. The companies include such major players as Exxon, BP, and Chevron.
MTBE, methyl tertiary butyl ether, is a chemical additive that oil companies used in gasoline beginning in the 1970s. It was phased out as an additive in 2005 in Pennsylvania.
The lawsuit also seeks monetary damages for the loss of groundwater use and damages to water resources, as well as injunctive relief, fines, and penalties relating to unfair and deceptive trade practices and marketing of MTBE and MTBE gasoline.
"When we entrust the commonwealth to the hands of others," Kane said Thursday in a statement, "we expect that they will care for it as we do. However, when companies pollute something so precious as our water, this cannot and will not be overlooked."
Since 1994, more than 3,000 gasoline releases have occurred from underground storage tanks at gas stations and other petroleum facilities in every Pennsylvania county, according to the Attorney General's Office. More than 75 percent of these spills and leaks involved MTBE gasoline, which is substantially more difficult to clean up than MTBE-free gasoline.
A second lawsuit seeks reimbursement of money disbursed by the Pennsylvania Underground Storage Tank Indemnification Fund to 36 named defendants to clean up gasoline spills regardless of whether they were MTBE-related.