A major oil company is facing a significant fine for years of polluting Native land. The Justice Department announced on Thursday that Marathon Oil has agreed to a $241.5 million settlement for polluting the air of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation in North Dakota through methane emissions from natural gas flaring.
“This historic settlement — the largest ever civil penalty for violations of the Clean Air Act at stationary sources — will ensure cleaner air for the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation and other communities in North Dakota, while holding Marathon accountable for its illegal pollution,” said Attorney General Merrick Garland in a statement.
The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, established in 1870, is home to the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara peoples. Despite oil being discovered on the territory in 1951, strict federal controls made access difficult. These controls were relaxed ahead of the Bakken shale oil boom, which brought significant financial resources to the area but resulted in unequal wealth distribution and environmental degradation.
A significant environmental cost of drilling is flaring, where natural gas not captured by drilling operations is partially burned off and released into the atmosphere. The Justice Department highlighted that methane, released during flaring, is a “climate super-pollutant” more potent than carbon dioxide. Reports indicate that as much as 240 billion cubic feet of natural gas was released on reservation land between 2012 and 2020.
As part of the settlement, Marathon Oil will spend $170 million to reduce emissions at its Fort Berthold operations. Additionally, the company will pay $64.5 million in fines, the largest-ever of its kind according to the Justice Department.
Marathon Oil, currently undergoing a $170 billion acquisition by ConocoPhillips, stated in a securities filing that the settlement is not expected to adversely affect its business operations or its merger with ConocoPhillips.