Regulatory Innovations

"ExxonMobil, through its role in the Fairmont project, is helping to pioneer Project XL, a new Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) effort designed to spur regulatory flexibility and faster cleanups. The traditional path of Superfund fixes is exceedingly structured, with detailed surveys and analyses required in a specific order before any real site work can be done. Delays and litigation are the rule, not the exception.

"I think the number one advantage of this XL pilot to date is that it's far less adversarial than the traditional process," says Melissa Whittington, the EPA remedial project manager for the Fairmont site. Another big difference between the traditional Superfund site and this XL pilot is the amount and frequency of community participation, notes Whittington. "In Fairmont, we've met with these folks every month for a year. We have a relationship. We don't just show up now and then and say, 'Here's what we're doing.' "

"A former Marion County (West Virginia) coke plant will be redeveloped as part of a national Superfund pilot project under an agreement announced Wednesday by the state Department of Environmental Protection". The former Sharon Steel plant, now owned by ExxonMobil, is the first site on the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's national priority list to enroll in the pilot project, known as Project XL, the DEP said. ExxonMobil agreed to provide $2 million for a custodial trust that will be used to promote redevelopment of the site. The trust is to be administered by the DEP. The company will also pay $500,000 to the state to settle claims for past and future damage to natural resources stemming from the contamination at the site, and to pay any future oversight costs.

"This is an example of a company stepping up to the plate and doing what's right," DEP Secretary Michael O. Callaghan said. "ExxonMobil bore little responsibility for the historic violations at the site, nevertheless it is willing to accept the responsibility for the cleanup. It is a clear example of a company being a good corporate citizen."