An ExxonMobil oil spill in the small town of Mayflower, Ark. is actually "substantially larger" than first thought, State Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Wednesday.
ExxonMobil's Pegasus pipeline, which can carry as much as 90,000 barrels of oil from Patoka, Ill. to Nederland, Texas, sprung a leak March 29, drenching area lawns in Canadian Wabasca Heavy crude and forcing the evacuation of 22 homes in the community. ExxonMobil said its crews responded to the leak within 30 minutes of the incident being reported.
The pipe has since been capped, and crews are working to contain and clean up the bitumen oil from Pelican Lake field in northern Alberta, Canada. However, according to McDaniel, while about 28,200 barrels of "oily water" and "2,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil and debris" have been collected, the clean up effort will require far more work than ExxonMobil has let on. The oil company did not explain how much of the total recovered was oil and how much of the number was water.
"The pipeline rupture is substantially larger than many of us initially thought," said State Attorney General McDaniel, adding that the size of the leak remains unknown.
"We still do not know how much oil was released. We still do not know the exact makeup of the crude itself, of the chemical solvents used in the transportation process," McDaniel said.
A no-fly zone has been enacted above the site of the spill, heavily restricting the media's ability to accurately report on the extent of the damage. Some publications have claimed reporters have been banned from the area and threatened with arrest. ExxonMobil has largely stayed quiet in the wake of the spill, offering scant details.
McDaniel said he has begun investigating the spill and has instructed ExxonMobil to hold on to all documents concerning the leak and subsequent cleanup.
"More documents will be received and requested from Exxon in coming days," McDaniel said. "But now everyone's priority continues to be the cleanup efforts in Mayflower."
ExxonMobil claims the spill has almost entirely been contained at this point, and estimates that about "eight or nine" of the residents evacuated may be able to return to their homes within the next few days. The oil company said a crew of about 700 people were working to clean up the massive spill, which poured at least 500,000 gallons of tar sands crude and contaminated water into the small southern town.
ExxonMobil vowed to provide compensation to those affected by the spill and has donated $15,000 to a local elementary school.
The cause of the break remains unclear, as does just how long cleanup will take or when the pipeline will reopen, officials said. Crews must first excavate the land around the pipeline break to adequately provide an estimate.
While the area above the spill has been designated as a no-fly zone, someone was able to capture aerial footage of the spill a mere three days after the pipe first ruptured:
- Contribute to this Story:
- Send us a tip
- Send us a photo or video
- Suggest a correction
