MAYFLOWER, Ark. (KTHV) - Following the 2013 oil spill in Mayflower, three homes were demolished.
On Monday, two more were torn down as Exxon Mobil tries to move forward. The two homes are both on a pipeline easement and Exxon decided not to resell them after the oil spill in 2013.
Now, they're demolished as Exxon is trying to put this incident behind them. "Our immediate objective was the health and safety of the people in the neighborhood and of course remediation followed that and now working on some beautification," said George Pietrogallo, Public and Government Affairs Advisor for Exxon Mobil.
The March 2013 spill happened when the Exxon Pegasus pipeline was unable to handle the pressure of the oil, causing an estimated 150,000 gallons of Canadian tar sands oil to flow through the neighborhood, requiring dozens of homes to be evacuated.
Exxon Mobil told us all of the homes in the neighborhood are safe and they only decided not to resell the two homes over the pipeline easement. “That was a decision taken by our business unit and ultimately the objective is to make sure there are no homes on a pipeline easement," said Pietrogallo.
They now plan to beautify the space by planting grass and seedlings. "What we’re trying to do is to move forward and I know the neighborhood wants to move forward," said Pietrogallo.
Exxon sold the pipeline to Permian Express.