MEC&F Expert Engineers : USA, N.Y, QUEENS, NOVEMBER 21 2014. JUDGE BLOCKS ORDER TO FORCE EXXON MOBIL TO CLEAN HISTORIC SPILL UNDER QUEENS BUILDING

Thursday, November 27, 2014

USA, N.Y, QUEENS, NOVEMBER 21 2014. JUDGE BLOCKS ORDER TO FORCE EXXON MOBIL TO CLEAN HISTORIC SPILL UNDER QUEENS BUILDING

USA, N.Y, QUEENS, NOVEMBER 21 2014. JUDGE BLOCKS ORDER TO FORCE EXXON MOBIL TO CLEAN HISTORIC GAS SPILL UNDER QUEENS BUILDING

A Brooklyn judge on Nov. 19 sided against Phoenix Beverage in a case relating to alleged methane fumes leaking under their Long Island City warehouse.

The beverage company sought a preliminary injunction relating to a methane gas leak under the warehouse that it alleges posed the risk of explosion. Judge Pamela Chen sided with defendants Exxon Mobil and Quanta Resources, which claim the spill is being carefully monitored and that talk of an explosion is merely speculation. The case is still ongoing.

“Our number one concern is always the safety of the public and our workers,” Public and Government Affairs Adviser for Exxon Mobil Environmental Services Kevin Thompson said. According to Thompson, the preliminary injunction failed because testing within the warehouse did not reveal any methane.

Phoenix’s lawyers allege that the gas is seeping in from under a neighboring property located at 37-80 Review Ave. and that the large pool of waste can be traced back to an oil refinery operated by Quanta Resources that previously occupied the site.

In 2006 the oil tanks were removed and the property is now a large lot.

The beverage company is demanding that energy giant Exxon Mobil clean up the gas spill, which it alleges constitutes a major safety risk. Its lawyers argue that the energy company brought waste oil to Quanta to be disposed of, which Phoenix now claims is seeping under its property and others on the block.

Thompson said that the suit was filed without Phoenix contacting the state Department of Environmental Conservation, which had already initiated an investigation. He further attests that Exxon Mobil offered to do indoor air quality testing within the warehouse, which the beverage company declined.

Phoenix’s lawyers allege that Exxon Mobil was the largest contributor of waste to Quanta and therefore culpable for any environmental damage caused by its improper disposal. The site has been the source of an environmental investigation for the past 10 years.

Though it retains control of the warehouse, Phoenix no longer occupies the space and leases it out to over 25 smaller businesses.

Litigation has been ongoing since July 2012, and now that Chen has deemed the methane leak to pose no imminent threat, she must decide who is ultimately responsible for cleaning up gallons of underground oil.

Extraction wells have been installed at the neighboring property since the decision in the preliminary injunction was handed down last week. Cleanup began Monday after 10 years of environmental investigation into the leak.

A judge said there's not enough evidence to show that the gas spill under this building in Long Island City is in danger of exploding. The judge sided with Exxon Mobil lawyers who argued that the situation is being monitored and the risk of an explosion is merely speculation. Phoenix Beverage, which operates a warehouse in Long Island City, wanted the judge to order the oil company to clean the methane gas spill leaking from waste oil under a nearby building.

A federal judge is not convinced that the methane gas leaking from waste oil underneath a Queens building is a ticking time bomb ready to explode. Brooklyn Judge Pamela Chen rejected a demand by Phoenix Beverage — which operates a large warehouse in Long Island City — to order Exxon Mobil to launch an immediate cleanup. “There's not enough evidence that there is an imminent threat of an explosion,” Chen said Wednesday. “I, of course, hope it does not come to pass.” Lawyers for Phoenix Beverage claim a plume of methane fumes underneath an adjacent building at 37-80 Review Ave. in Long Island City is migrating from a large pool of underground waste oil that dates back to an oil refinery on the site in the 1970s and 1980s. Assistant Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Kevan Cleary made an impassioned argument that Exxon Mobil could voluntarily take remedial steps like installing methane detectors and a venting system at an inconsequential cost to a company that is “bigger than all the Googles and dot coms put together.” But Chen sided with the Exxon Mobil lawyers who argued that the situation is being monitored and the risk of an explosion is merely speculation. Both sides have been litigating the case for years and Chen will ultimately have to decide who is responsible for cleaning up the boatloads of underground waste oil.