For the fourth and final time, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against Exxon Mobile and ordered the energy giant to pay a $14,250,000 fine.
Luke Metzger, the executive director of Environment Texas, said while that amount was considered as pocket change to the company, it demonstrates nobody is above the law.
"This penalty is the largest Clean Air Act Citizen suit penalty in US history, so it is quite significant," Metzger said. "But I think more significant to Exxon in a company as large and wealthy as them is just the fact that they are finally being held accountable."
The suit was brought up by organizations Sierra Club and Environment Texas. Both groups sued Exxon Mobile's Bayton Refinery and Chemical Plant complex, back in 2010 for more than 16,000 violations of the Clean Air Act. They claimed the company illegally released more than 10 million pounds of pollution.
Exxon argued that citizens did not have the right to hold polluters accountable when the government failed to do so.
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