Judge approves $1M Exxon settlement over Montana spill

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — A judge has approved an agreement calling for Exxon Mobil Corp. to pay $1.05 million to settle U.S. Environmental Protection Agency claims of pollution violations over a 2011 oil pipeline break in Montana’s Yellowstone River.

U.S. District Judge Susan Watters accepted the consent decree Monday after a 30-day public comment period.

The deal resolves the last outstanding federal enforcement case against Exxon over the accident that spilled 63,000 gallons (238,474 liters) of crude oil in the river.

Flooding along the Yellowstone in 2011 scoured the river bottom and exposed the buried pipeline, causing it to break.

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Exxon previously paid $12 million in natural resource damage compensation and $2.6 million for pipeline safety and state pollution violations. The company also spent an estimated $135 million on a months-long cleanup and repairs.