Crying Over Spilt Oil: Are Leeks and Spills Threatening Plainview’s Water Supply?

Another good reason to drink bottled water, especially if you live in (and around) Plainview.

It’s reported that the Plainview Water District is seeking financial remuneration (for cleanup efforts), from oil companies responsible of releasing a potentially hazardous carcinogenic fuel additive, known as MTBE into local groundwater.

But, before the district sees even one red cent it must first prove that methyl tertiary butyl ether from the spills and leaks via three local gas stations is interfering with the area wells.

However, as of date, it’s reported that there has been no MTBE fount in Plainview’s drinking water. Still, attorneys (for the district) note that the MTBE that escaped from three gas stations went directing into a primary part of the underground aquifer that supplies the district’s water. And, the attorney’s (for the district) attest that those responsible should be held liable and accountable.

On the other hand, attorneys for the three defendants, including Exxon Mobil of Irving, Texas and Cumberland Farms/Gulf of Canton, Mass., note that the leaks and spills occurred about 10 or so years ago and are being cleanup, posing no threat of danger to the community, or the wells. Additionally, the state Department of environmental Conservation sites that any contamination in the future from one source or another (of the three) is rare since the wells are located north of a former Mobil station and any leakage remaining is moving south via the groundwater.

Still, the district is “fighting” for $80 million to finance a new plant with two new supply wells. And, when the suit was originally filed back in 2001, the Plaintiffs were also asking for $2-billion in punitive damages and $500-million in compensatory damages.

It is further expected that competing experts will review the information and computer models to access the situation and how the contaminant, since outlawed in the state of New York, will travel through the aquifer and whether or not it will meet up with any wells along the way.

And, a few water districts in California have also filed suit against these oil companies for similar potential damage, but it’s reported that most of these suits involve wells noted for already being contaminated.