20-Year Court Battle Against Texaco Ends; Oil Giant Held Accountable

NEW YORK (October 4th, 2007) – On the eve of a contempt trial and after nearly 20 years of legal wrangling, Texaco today reached a settlement agreement with the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and Delaware Audubon Society for repeated violations of water pollution limits and Court Orders. The groups had taken Texaco to court five separate times over the previous two decades in order to stop the oil company from polluting the Delaware River.

 

“Texaco waged a war of attrition, clearly expecting that NRDC and Delaware Audubon would blink first,” said NRDC attorney Mitchell Bernard. “But for 20 years, we didn’t give up and we didn’t go away. Today we are holding Texaco accountable for its environmental lawbreaking, and making sure that they do right by the communities that have had to live with Texaco’s pollution.”

 

The settlement agreement requires Texaco (and its successor corporation Motiva) to fund $2.25 million in environmental benefit projects in the Delaware City area. More than $1 million will go to Delaware State Parks projects including reforestation, invasive species control, and installation of a remote camera and video display terminals at the Pea Patch Island Heronry. $675,000 will be provided to Main Street Delaware City, Inc. to support several projects under their Eco-Tourism Program.

 

“The areas around Delaware City represent some of the most important eco-systems in the state and the region,” said Nick DiPasquale, Conservation Chair for Delaware Audubon. “Over the past half century, this area has suffered significantly as a result of environmental assaults from the Delaware City industrial complex. Nonetheless, these ecosystems have survived. The environmental projects funded by this settlement will go a long way toward restoring the ecology of the area and enhancing public access to some of Delaware’s most remarkable natural resources.”

 

Today’s settlement stems from a contempt motion filed against Texaco by NRDC and Delaware Audubon in 2005. The contempt motion alleged the oil giant violated elements of a court order requiring the company to study the impacts of its unlawful pollution discharges on the Delaware River.   Under the pressure of an imminent trial, Texaco reached a settlement.

 

The original action was filed against Texaco in 1988 by Delaware Audubon and NRDC as a citizen suit under the federal Clean Water Act for water discharge violations at the Delaware City Refinery.

 

NRDC and Delaware Audubon won the first of three court trials against Texaco in 1992, after NRDC scientists uncovered evidence from the oil company's own internal reports that it had been knowingly discharging oil, grease and other highly toxic pollutants into the Delaware since 1983, in excess of what its permit allowed. A federal judge, calling the case “practically unassailable,” determined that Texaco had violated the Clean Water Act on a total 3,360 days.

 

The company was ordered to pay a fine of $1.68 million, to fully comply with water pollution laws and to ascertain the damage it had caused to the fragile Delaware River ecosystem. However, Texaco repeatedly defied court orders to take full responsibility for illegally dumping highly toxic pollutants into the river. Over the next 15 years, Delaware Audubon and NRDC took Texaco back to court on multiple occasions to enforce the terms of the original court orders.

 

The lawsuit was initiated at the urging of Grace Pierce-Beck, a long-time environmental activist and former Conservation Chair for Delaware Audubon.

 

“In many respects, this settlement agreement is a testament and tribute to the work of Grace and many of her local and national colleagues, who, despite some pretty overwhelming odds, took on a corporate Goliath,” said Mark Martell, President of Delaware Audubon. “We are proud to honor their efforts through a settlement that will result in tangible environmental benefits for Delaware and the Delaware City community.”