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Poison Watch Title: Exxon Found Liable for Louisiana Workers’ Radiation March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Exxon Mobil Corp., the largest U.S. energy company, was found liable for exposing 16 Louisiana workers to dangerous levels of radiation when they were cleaning used oil drilling pipes. A state court jury in Gretna, Louisiana, today decided that Exxon is liable for failing to protect the workers from naturally occurring radioactive material in its used drilling pipes. The men said they fear they will develop cancer as a result of their exposure. The jury awarded the victims $1.2 million. The verdict comes after Exxon settled several claims in the case by plaintiffs who had developed cancer. None of the 16 men whose claims the jury rejected today suffers from a radiation- related illness. The claims are among thousands pending against Exxon and other oil companies over allegations that they put employees and residents near pipe-cleaning operations at risk from radiation- related diseases, particularly cancer. A spokesperson for Exxon Mobil didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment. In the five-week trial, the men claimed they were exposed to high levels of radium in the residue, or “scale,” that built up inside the drilling pipes. Jurors began deliberating at the end of the day on Feb. 24. Former Employees The workers, all former employees of Intracoastal Tubular Services, or ITCO, at a site in Harvey, Louisiana, near New Orleans, claimed that internal Exxon memos showed the Irving, Texas-based company had information about the risk beginning in the 1930s. ITCO, which went out of business in 1992, was found not liable. The workers claimed Exxon delayed disclosing the radiation danger to prevent federal authorities from reclassifying as hazardous waste the radioactive water it pumped from wells. An internal Exxon document estimated the cost of the regulatory change at $750 million the first year plus $150 million a year thereafter, the plaintiffs claimed. The workers asked jurors to award $1.3 million for medical monitoring, additional pay ranging from $50,000 to $150,000, depending on each worker’s estimated radiation exposure, and $15 million in punitive damages. Exxon denied it did anything wrong and argued that as none of the plaintiffs claimed radiation-related health problems, they couldn’t recover damages. The company claimed the radiation levels at the Harvey site weren’t high enough to cause illness. Harvey Property The owners of the Harvey property won a $1 billion punitive jury verdict against Exxon in 2001 over claims of radioactive contamination from the pipe-cleaning operation. The punitive judgment was reduced to $112 million and paid, with interest, after Exxon’s appeals failed. In upholding a jury finding that Exxon was responsible for radioactive contamination of the site, a Louisiana appeals court called the company’s conduct “inexcusable.” The case is Lester v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 630-402, District] Court, Jefferson Parish, Louisiana (Gretna).
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