New Judge, Same Result – $81 Million CWA Civil Penalty Appealed
U.S. District Court Judge Dee Drell of the Western District of Louisiana recently denied a motion to alter or amend the court’s judgment against CITGO Petroleum Corp. – allowing an $81 million judgment against the oil company to stand, report on the Energy Law Blog of Liskow & Lewis.
The article reports that the judgment is the latest in a suit the EPA filed against CITGO under the Clean Water Act for a 2006 spill at the oil company’s St. Charles refinery.
“Given that in 2015 all civil enforcement actions by the EPA yielded penalties totaling $205 million (excluding settlements), the CITGO judgment stands out as unusually large,” the authors write. … “The Fifth Circuit’s response to CITGO’s second appeal may provide guidance on whether these types of judgments could be a trend in future Clean Water Act enforcement actions.”
