Heavy Canadian crude loophole may exempt ExxonMobil from costs for Arkansas spill

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National Geographic Pictures: Arkansas Oil Spill Darkens Backyards, Driveways

Exxon?s oil spill in Arkansas leaves neighborhood like a scene from ?The Walking Dead?: official

Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/exxon-ark-oil-spill-walking-dead-official-article-1.1307468#ixzz2PWlkin9r


Exxon controls skies over Arkansas oil spill

What could be worse than a massive oil spill? - When the oil is not oil...

http://rt.com/usa/arkansas-spill-exxon-cleanup-244/

Arkansas oil spill: Exxon reacts to tax 'loophole,' pledges ?to cover all costs?
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Published time: April 02, 2013 23:41
Edited time: April 03, 2013 22:48
The central Arkansas spill caused by Exxon?s aging Pegasus pipeline has reportedly unleashed 10,000 barrels of Canadian heavy crude - but a technicality says it's not oil, letting the energy giant off the hook from paying into a national cleanup fund.

Legally speaking, diluted bitumen like the heavy crude that's overrun Mayflower, Arkansas, is not classified as 'oil'. And it's that very distinction that exempts Exxon from contributing to the government's oil spillage cleanup fund.

ExxonMobil has already confirmed that the compromised pipeline was transporting ?low-quality Wabasca Heavy crude? from Canada?s Alberta region. That particular form of crude contains large quantities of bitumen - a "thick, sticky, black semi-solid form of petroleum which is transported in a diluted form (dilbit) as it makes its way from Canada to US refineries," explains Oil Change International, which has brought attention on the strange legal exemption...