ExxonMobil Settles Case

IRVING, Texas -- Exxon Mobil Corp. will pay $11.2 million to settle a 1996 lawsuit alleging that Mobil Oil Corp. dumped hazardous waste in New York's Staten Island, the U.S. Justice Department said yesterday.

The suit alleged that Mobil Oil mismanaged waste contaminated with benzene, a cancer-causing agent, at a petroleum product storage and distribution terminal on the Arthur Kill waterway in Staten Island.

Mobil Oil was acquired by Exxon Corp. in a 1999 merger that produced the world's largest publicly traded oil company.

The suit sought penalties for violations of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act. The $11.2 million settlement includes an $8.2 million civil penalty and $3 million to buy or restore environmentally sensitive lands on the Arthur Kill.

Two injunctions will be entered requiring ExxonMobil to perform cleanup at Port Mobil and bar the oil concern from arguing that environmental laws do not prohibit individual instances of hazardous waste dumping, the Justice Department said.