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US announces record oil and gas contamination penalty against Marathon Oil

U.S. authorities on Thursday revealed a $241 million settlement with Marathon Oil over alleged air pollution violations at lots of the business's oil and gas centers on a North Dakota Indian appointment, stating it was part of a continuous crackdown.

The settlement consists of a record penalty and environmental equipment upgrades. President Joe Biden's administration has ratcheted up enforcement in the oil and gas sector to combat climate modification and to counter pollution, particularly in bad and minority communities.

The Marathon settlement represents a terrific advance in our efforts to deal with environment modification through enforcement action, Todd Kim, assistant chief law officer with the Department of Justice's environment and natural resources division, said in an interview.

The offer uses to years of alleged extreme volatile organic compound and methane emissions from wells, piping and tank on the Fort Berthold Indian Booking, home of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Country, at the center of the huge Bakken oil development.

It is the administration's 12th targeting of the oil and gas sector emissions, but by far its largest.

This settlement is historical, and it is a video game changer, Kim said.

Under the deal, Marathon will pay a $64.5 million penalty, the biggest ever for offenses of the Clean Air Act from fixed sources, according to the Environmental Protection Company and the Department of Justice, which jointly filed the settlement in federal court in North Dakota on Thursday.

That penalty is more than double the combined total of the administration's 11 previous oil and gas Clean Air Act settlements, officials stated.

Still, it is dwarfed by Marathon's revenues, which were $ 1.55 billion last year.

The business will also invest an estimated $177 million to bring its facilities into compliance with the law. That work will slash 2.25 million lots of co2 emissions over the next five years, about the equivalent of eliminating 487,000 automobiles off the roadway for a year.

The settlement is subject to a 30-day public remark period before it can be finalized.

The federal government's complaint alleged that Marathon, which is being obtained by ConocoPhillips in a $22.5 billion offer that has yet to be settled, stopped working to get necessary permits for its facilities.

Marathon did not right away react to an ask for remark.

The stepped-up enforcement effort is in line with Biden's. goal to lower emissions of methane, a powerful worldwide warming gas. that leaks from drill websites and pipelines, and with the vow to. deal with pollution from oil and gas operations near poor. neighborhoods.

An agent for the MHA Country did not right away. respond to an ask for comment.

(source: Reuters)