WASHINGTON - An Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) subsidiary agreed to pay more than $5.5 million to settle charges that its oil spills in Utah polluted water supplies of a local Indian tribe, the U.S. Justice Department said.
Mobil Exploration and Producing U.S. Inc. will pay a $515,000 penalty and spend about $4.7 million to reduce oil spills at its field operations.
"Companies that operate and manage our nation's oil-producing infrastructure have a responsibility to ensure the safety and integrity of their operations," Assistant Attorney General Thomas Sansonetti said.
The government sued Mobil in March 1998, claiming that 83 spills during the 1990s at the company's oil fields reached tributaries of the San Juan River, in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
Mobil's oil production fields are located on both sides of the San Juan River in southeastern Utah on lands leased from the Navajo Nation.
The settlement also includes Mobil spending $327,000 on environmental projects such as sanitation facilities and a new drinking water supply line extension that will provide running water to 17 remote Navajo residences located near the oil fields.
Local residents currently drive as long as an hour to fill 55-gallon drums with drinking water.
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