ORB Exploration LLC, a Louisiana company, has agreed to pay over $715,000 in penalties and costs to settle allegations of oil spills and violations of spill prevention rules in the Atchafalaya River Basin.
In a federal-state coordinated enforcement effort, ORB Exploration LLC has agreed to pay $615,000 in federal civil penalties for the spills and other Clean Water Act violations, as well as $100,000 to the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ) for civil penalties and response costs.
The company has also agreed to carry out injunctive relief measures to improve spill response preparedness and prevent future oil spills.
The alleged violations stem from three crude oil spills that occurred in 2013 and 2015 from two of ORB’s Louisiana facilities at Frog Lake and Crocodile Bayou, both located in the Atchafalaya River Basin.
The largest spill occurred in 2013, after a corroded oil transfer pipeline ruptured in a flooded wetland area. The cleanup took over a year and a half and required significant state-federal cooperation.
ORB Exploration LLC is required to improve secondary containment capability at the Frog Lake facility, increase its environmental compliance, and prevent future spills from its oil production facilities.
This settlement holds ORB Exploration LLC accountable for the harms to the environment caused by its oil spills into threatened, sensitive natural areas.
ORB Exploration LLC, Oil Spills, Louisiana 2023: In the most recent federal-state coordinated enforcement efforts against oil spills in and around the Gulf of Mexico, ORB Exploration LLC has agreed to pay civil penalties and state response costs and to implement corrective measures to resolve alleged violations of the Clean Water Act and state environmental laws stemming from three crude oil spills that occurred in 2013 and 2015 from two of ORB’s Louisiana facilities at Frog Lake and Crocodile Bayou.
Related Federal Cases
- Great Lakes Dredge & Dock Company, Oil Spill, Louisiana 2022 · Louisiana
- Ilios Shipping Company S.A., Oil Pollution and Obstruction of Justice, Louisiana 2012 · Louisiana
- Cedyco Corporation, Unlawful Discharges of Oil, Louisiana 2023 · Louisiana
- Panagiotis Lekkas, Pollution and Obstruction, Louisiana 2009 · Louisiana
- Polembros Shipping LTD., Pollution, Louisiana 2023 · Louisiana
Key Facts
- State: Louisiana
- Category: Environmental Crime
- Source: DOJ Press Release â†â€â€
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