Video: Two months after Exxon's Pegasus pipeline ruptured and spewed tar sands oil into an Arkansas subdivision and nearby lake...life in Mayflower is still far from back to normal.
May 31, 2013


Thanks to Scarce for the video!

Two months after Exxon's Pegasus pipeline ruptured and spewed tar sands oil into an Arkansas subdivision and nearby lake...life in Mayflower is still far from back to normal.

Arkansas Matters:

"You can see it's just nasty. It was never like this before," said Robin Lang as she pointed to green, turbid water in her backyard.

Two days before the two-month anniversary of the Mayflower oil spill, folks like Lang who live on "The Cove" section of Lake Conway are still wondering when life will be back to normal.

Oil collecting boom stretches across her lake view, and an airboat patrols daily collecting remnants of the spill.

Lang says wildlife is nowhere to be seen.

"It's like a desert area," she said. "Everything just left. I mean what would want to be in this water?"

While Exxon paid the residents of The Cove $2,500 each for their troubles, there is no agreement to protect their property values. There is also no one cleaning the properties in The Cove as they are in Northwoods subdivision.

But life in Northwoods subdivision still hasn't returned to normal. All 22 of the homes evacuated on March 29th still remain vacant. Heavy equipment is still present, yards are still torn up. Seven of the homes were so deeply impacted by the spill that there are no plans to return those families to their homes, Exxon is instead looking for "long-term solutions" for them.

Dozens of residents and property owners are now suing ExxonMobil Pipeline Company for an unspecified amount in damages.

Huffington Post:

Shawn Daniels, one of the lawyers for the residents and property owners, said Wednesday that he didn't have an estimate of how much money his clients are seeking.

"That's one of the things that we just won't know," Daniels said. "If it was strictly an appraisal issue on X number of houses, then you could mathematically compute it, but there are differences ... At this early stage, there's just no way to have any kind of a figure in mind."

The lawsuit says some of the Mayflower residents who are suing have had headaches, nausea and other health problems as a result of the spill. The lawsuit also says some residents have experienced property damage and declines in property value.

Residents and homeowners are seeking a jury trial.

There is also a "Mayflower Arkansas Oil Spill" Facebook page, where residents share video footage, photographs and their hardships due to the oil spill. The Facebook page has nearly 5,000 followers.

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