Not Just Toxic, But Exempt

The news from the Arkansas pipeline spill just got worse. Not only are dead and what officials call "oiled" ducks turning up - coated in oil so thick it's "like removing gum from someone's hair" - but thanks to a legal technicality, it seems Exxon won't be paying into the fund used to clean up their mess. Running through their pipelines is diluted bitumen from tar sands heavy crude, which under a bizarre 1980 law is somehow not classified as oil . That means companies transporting it do not pay into the federal clean-up fund that covers the costs of these feckless, inevitable debacles. And yes. Same goes for Keystone.

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