The government has responded the an Arkansas water utility's opposition to the proposed settlement of a lawsuit with Exxon Mobil over a 2013 oil spill in Mayflower.
Wednesday's filing in federal court in Little Rock says the proposed settlement is fair, adequate, reasonable, and is consistent with the Clean Water Act. The proposed settlement submitted earlier this month would require two subsidiaries of Exxon Mobil to pay about $5 million in penalties for state and federal violations caused when the oil spilled a 22-foot portion of the Pegasus Pipeline ruptured.
Central Arkansas Water objected to the proposal, saying it doesn't require the Pegasus pipeline be moved away from the Lake Maumelle watershed. The pipeline crosses beneath the watershed, which supplies drinking water to an estimated 400,000 residents in central Arkansas.
