On Wednesday, the oil behemoth ExxonMobil agreed to pay for failing to cut down pollution in refineries scattered across the country.

ExxonMobil, which has been hit before with environmental charges, will pay a $6.1 million penalty for failing to comply with pollution regulations in refineries in California, Louisiana and Texas. The company had agreed to reduce pollution in four refineries in those states, but came up short.

[social_buttons]The agreement was made in 2005 – a year where the company was told by the courts to spend $6.7 on community projects dealing with the environment. The regulations set down then were set to control sulfur pollutants from smoke stacks.





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Exxon did apologize for emitting pollutants and said they cleaned up house since then, but the Justice Department demanded more than just a delayed response to regulations, and slapped on the fine.

“The Department of Justice will not tolerate violation of our consent decrees,” Assistant Attorney General Ronald Tenpas said in a statement. “The significant penalty in this case shows that noncompliance with settlement requirements will have serious consequences,” reports the AP.

But hey, ExxonMobil’s still bringing in the mulah, regardless of fines. In October, the company reported a profit of $14.83 billion from July to September – another record quarter for the company.

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