Exxon Mobil pleads guilty in bird deaths

DENVER, Aug. 13 (UPI) -- Exxon Mobil Corp. will pay a $600,000 penalty to atone for killing migratory birds in five U.S. states, the Justice Department said Thursday.

The world's largest publicly traded oil company pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Denver to charges it was responsible for the deaths of about 85 protected birds, including waterfowl, hawks and owls, at drilling and production facilities in Colorado, Wyoming, Oklahoma, Texas and Kansas between 2004 and 2009, Justice Department officials said in a release.

They said the company has agreed to pay fines and community service payments totaling $600,000, and will implement an environmental compliance plan over the next three years aimed at preventing bird deaths on the company's facilities in the affected states. Court documents indicated Exxon Mobil has already spent more than $2.5 million to begin implementation of the plan.

Of the $600,000 the company will pay, $400,000 will be deposited into the federally administered North American Wetlands Conservation Fund and $200,000 in community service payments will go to a non-profit waterfowl rehabilitation foundation, the release said.