MDE orders ExxonMobil to resume bottled water delivery to families

Posted: 3:58 pm Fri, March 12, 2010
By Danny Jacobs
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

ExxonMobil Corp. has agreed to a Maryland Department of the Environment request to resume delivery of bottled water to Jacksonville families affected by a 2006 gasoline leak.

The department’s request comes six weeks after MDE approved Exxon’s request to stop delivering bottled water to 126 homes and businesses and stop testing approximately half of the approximately 250 wells it had been monitoring as part of its remediation efforts since the 25,000-plus-gallon leak was discovered.

Dawn Stoltzfus, an MDE spokeswoman, said the department made its request in a letter mailed to Exxon on March 10. The resumption of services will continue, pending a report from an independent review team examining MDE’s original decision, Stoltzfus said, adding that the report is expected by May 1.

An Exxon spokesman said the company welcomes the independent look at the remediation efforts.

“We appreciate the careful consideration the state of Maryland has given this matter and the additional public review it will now receive,” said Kevin M. Allexon.

Exxon had notified affected property owners of the previously approved changes to its remediation work in letters mailed last month. The actions drew protests from residents, lawyers representing them in civil lawsuits against the company and Gov. Martin O’Malley, who two weeks ago asked MDE to revisit its decision.

The department had ruled that water delivery was no longer needed because corrective measures were in place within the defined half-mile contamination zone, including filter systems maintained by Exxon. MDE also agreed the company no longer needed to test 130 wells twice a year where remediation systems have kept water from approaching actionable levels of contamination.

Michael B. Snyder, one of the attorneys for 88 households awarded $150 million in damages stemming from the spill, praised the news. Exxon is appealing the verdict.

“Our clients, even to this day, fear using their contaminated well-water and instead use bottled water for all purposes of daily living,” said Snyder, of Snyder & Snyder in Pikesville.

News of MDE’s request to Exxon was first disclosed Friday afternoon in an e-mailed statement released by Baltimore County Executive Jim Smith.

“The simple fact is that people in Jacksonville deserve to know for certain that the drinking water from their wells is safe long-term; and until that can be definitively known, it is only right that the company provide them with bottled water,” Smith said.