Federal Lawsuit Filed Over Arkansas Bitumen Spill

Federal Lawsuit Filed Over Arkansas Oil Spill by Jeannie Nuss, April 6, 2013, Associated Press
Two women who live near an ExxonMobil pipeline that ruptured last week and spilled thousands of barrels of oil in central Arkansas filed a federal lawsuit against the company on Friday. The class-action complaint from Kimla Greene and Kathryn Jane Roachell Chunn comes a week after ExxonMobil Pipeline Co.’s Pegasus pipeline ruptured in Mayflower, about 25 miles northwest of Little Rock. Crews are still working to clean up oil that spewed onto lawns and roadways and almost fouled nearby Lake Conway. The women are seeking money to make up for “a permanent diminishment in property value,” according to the complaint. Their complaint says the women are bringing their lawsuit on their own behalf and for other people who live near the pipeline in Arkansas. One of the women’s lawyers, Phillip Duncan, wouldn’t spell out exactly how much money they’re looking for, but their lawsuit says they’re seeking more than $5 million in damages for property owners. The lawsuit said the part of the pipeline that ruptured was “in an unsafe, defective and deficient condition presenting an immediate environmental harm” on March 29 — the day it ruptured. “The Pegasus Pipeline running throughout the state of Arkansas is most likely to be similarly situated and maintained …” Greene and Chunn’s lawyers wrote in the complaint. [Emphasis added]