"Exxon Targets Standing in Largest-Ever Citizen Lawsuit Penalty"

"Exxon Mobil Corp. and environmental groups will square off once again in circuit court on Tuesday in a 13-year-old lawsuit over pollution from the energy giant’s Baytown, Texas, refinery.

In an unusual decision for en banc examination, the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit will hear oral arguments in Environment Texas Citizen Lobby v. ExxonMobil Corp., a civil rights case aiming to put Exxon on the hook for $14 million, the largest-ever Clean Air Act citizen lawsuit penalty.

In its request for a rehearing, Exxon asked the court to reexamine a “sweeping liability theory” that amounts to “a roadmap for runaway citizen suits.”

Exxon has been fighting this complaint against its Baytown petrochemical complex since 2010 over claims that carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, benzene, and other emissions from the group of plants far exceeded its permits."

Jennifer Hijazi reports for Bloomberg Environment May 15, 2023.

Source: Bloomberg Environment, 05/16/2023