State reaches $786,000 settlement with ExxonMobil

Feb. 26--Concluding a nearly decadelong legal battle with New Mexico, ExxonMobil has agreed to pay the state $786,000 in a settlement stemming from a lawsuit alleging double payments for pollution cleanup.

The New Mexico Environment Department alleged in the lawsuit, which began in 2010, that ExxonMobil obtained $106,501 in reimbursements from a state fund to clean up leaking petroleum storage tanks at a Taos service station.

The state accused the company of also collecting insurance money for the same costs.

Although ExxonMobil denies the allegations, it has agreed to pay $500,000 to the New Mexico Corrective Action Fund as part of the settlement, more than $143,000 to the state attorney general and more than $143,000 to the state's general fund. ExxonMobil also will pay $262,500, or about 25 percent of the total $1.05 million settlement, to the whistleblower who alerted the state.

"While ExxonMobil denies the state's allegations and denies any wrongdoing, it has negotiated in good faith and reached a resolution with the state regarding repayment of funds paid to the company by the state's Leaking Underground Storage Tank Fund," said ExxonMobile spokesman Jeremy Eikenberry in an email.

The company will make the wire transfer within the next 30 days, according to the settlement.

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