ConocoPhillips, Shell, Marathon, Chevron and BP are among about a dozen oil companies that will pay $423 million to settle lawsuits brought by water suppliers in 17 states over contamination from the gasoline additive MTBE.
The suits claim the oil companies contaminated wells and underground aquifers across the country by adding methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE, to gasoline as a way to reduce air pollution. They claim the oil companies hid information showing MTBE would cause "massive" contamination.
The settlement was filed Wednesday with U.S. District Judge Shira Scheindlin in New York, who is presiding over the 153 settled lawsuits brought by municipalities. The six oil companies and refineries that didn't settle include Exxon Mobil Corp., the world's biggest publicly traded oil company, according to Robert Gordon, a lawyer for the plaintiffs.
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