NEW ORLEANS – Stating that “justice delayed is justice denied,” on Wednesday, a full en banc panel of 17 judges on the federal Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the latest attempt by ExxonMobil to avoid responsibility for violating a federal environmental law. The court affirmed a 2021 federal court ruling that found ExxonMobil committed more than 16,000 violations of the federal Clean Air Act at its Baytown, Texas, refinery and chemical plant complex.
The ruling put an end to Exxon’s numerous appeals over a 15-year period. It affirmed the trial judge’s imposition of a $14.25 million civil penalty against the oil giant. That’s the largest penalty ever imposed by a court in a citizen-initiated lawsuit to enforce the Clean Air Act.
“This ruling affirms a bedrock principle of constitutional law that people who live near pollution-spewing industrial facilities have a personal stake in holding polluters accountable for non-compliance with federal air pollution limits, and therefore have a right to sue to enforce the Clean Air Act as Congress intended,” explained Josh Kratka, managing attorney at the National Environmental Law Center and one of the lead lawyers on the case.
A majority of judges signed onto a one-paragraph “per curiam” opinion denying Exxon’s appeal on all grounds and reinstating the record penalty. Seven judges wrote a concurring opinion, in which they argue that they would have gone even further and reinstated U.S. District Court Judge David Hittner’s earlier decision in the long-running case, which imposed a $19.95 million penalty on Exxon.
“This is an extremely important victory. People in Baytown and Houston expect industry to be good neighbors. But when companies violate the law and put health-threatening pollution into neighborhoods, they need to be held accountable,” said Luke Metzger, executive director of plaintiff Environment Texas.
In 2017, Judge Hittner had found Exxon responsible for 16,386 days of violation of its federal Clean Air Act permits – more than one violation a day for eight years – at the Baytown oil refinery and chemical plant complex, one of the nation’s largest manufacturing facilities. The illegal pollution included toxic, carcinogenic and ozone-forming chemicals.
“Ordinary citizens harmed by industrial pollution should be able to take polluters to court to deter future violations in the way Congress had unequivocally intended citizens to do,” said David Nicholas, one of the lead attorneys for Environment Texas and Sierra Club. “The Fifth Circuit’s decision has affirmed this principle.”
Exxon’s 3,400-acre complex in Baytown, Texas, is located about 25 miles east of downtown Houston. Tens of thousands of people live within three miles of the complex, with more nearby.
“This decision protects people who live in the places most heavily inundated with industrial pollution, like the Houston Ship Channel,” explained Neil Carman, clean air program director at co-plaintiff Sierra Club’s Lone Star Chapter. “Exxon’s Baytown refinery-chemical complex is the largest polluter on the Houston Ship Channel, impacting the air quality of hundreds of thousands of citizens.”
The groups are represented by the National Environmental Law Center; attorney David Nicholas of Newton, Massachusetts; and Houston attorneys Philip Hilder and Will Graham.
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Sierra Club has approximately 24,000 members in Texas who are protecting parks and wildlands and building a clean energy future to protect human health and natural resources.
Environment Texas is a policy and action group with one mission: to protect and restore the natural world.
