US Supreme Court rejects Exxon's appeal of $14.25 million air pollution penalty
Source: Reuters
June 30, 2025 10:02 AM EDT Updated 7 hours ago
June 30 (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court turned away on Monday Exxon Mobil Corp's (XOM.N) bid to overturn a $14.25 million civil penalty that a judge imposed in a long-running lawsuit over air pollution at its Baytown, Texas, crude oil refinery.
Exxon had asked the justices to take up the case after a lower court in December upheld the largest penalty ever assessed in a citizen-initiated lawsuit enforcing protections against air pollution under the landmark Clean Air Act environmental law.
The lawsuit, filed in 2010 by the Environment Texas Citizen Lobby and the Sierra Club, focused on Exxon's operation in Baytown of the largest petroleum and petrochemical complex in the United States. The plaintiffs said that the facility routinely exceeded limits under the Clean Air Act on emissions of harmful air pollutants, affecting the daily lives and health of people who live and work nearby by emitting toxic, carcinogenic and ozone-forming chemicals.
Houston-based U.S. District Judge David Hittner in 2017 issued a $19.95 million penalty to Exxon, finding it was responsible for the pollution from the Baytown complex between 2005 and 2013. The New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals later threw out the penalty and ordered Hittner to reassess it, resulting in the judge in 2021 issuing a new $14.25 million penalty, which the appellate court ultimately upheld.
Read more: https://www.reuters.com/sustainability/boards-policy-regulation/us-supreme-court-rejects-exxons-appeal-1425-million-air-pollution-penalty-2025-06-30/
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