Exxon Mobil Has "F&%* You" Money

There is an old expression used to desscribe someone who has so much money that they can literally tell the world, [Screw] You! Exxon Mobil has that kind of cash.

Yesterday Chevron, BP, and other major oil companies entered into a $423 million MTBE groundwater contamination settlement, but Exxon took a pass. Good for Exxon.

I know the company is making a ton of cash while I and others suffer at the pump, but to hand that cash over to some blood-sucking trial lawyer would only add insult to injury.

At issue were 500 lawsuits in 19 states, alleging that "oil companies" (there's that catch-all term again) knew or "should have known" (that phrase is Holy Scripture to parasitic trial lawyers) that MTBE was a groundwater contaminant.

The MTBE manufacturers noted that they sold the chemical to companies that put it in their refined gasoline product and that gasoline, with or without MTBE has no place in groundwater so, as long as you're not contaminating groundwater with raw gasoline, you won't have any MTBE problems.

But that argument got lost amid the well-financed rush to ethanol and now MTBE is banned which many people take as a de facto declaration of guilt, so these crazy lawsuits remain viable.

Chevron, BP and others made the business decision to pay to make them go away, but Exxon is standing strong and will fight the case on facts. Way to go Exxon.

MTBE contamination settlement could cost oil companies $423 million [Los Angeles Times]