Rehabilitation and decommissioning
In 2015, we collaborated with the Land Trust Alliance, a national land conservation organization, to create Establishing Conservation Easements on Corporate Lands: A Guide for Corporations and Land Trusts . This document will serve as a reference tool for many corporations, including those in the oil and gas industry, when managing land with inherent conservation value warranting permanent protection.
stewardship by the Armand Bayou Nature Center. The former drill site now serves as a protective buffer to ensure that the rookery and its inhabitants are safe from future development. Rehabilitation We continually seek to enhance our reclamation processes by integrating site remediation plans into life cycle planning for an asset. Before Imperial Oil, an ExxonMobil affiliate in Canada, began construction of the Kearl development, a pre-disturbance assessment was conducted. This assessment helped to document reference conditions for the site’s soils and vegetation, which will be used to plan and execute end-of-life site reclamation work. In particular, topsoil was salvaged during the construction phase so that it could be used during reclamation. Our focus on site rehabilitation leads us toward innovative ways to ensure the land we use is available for environmental and societal benefits in the future. For example, as areas of the Kearl oil sands mine in Canada are no longer needed, we prioritize them for progressive reclamation. Progressive reclamation not only prevents erosion in the short term, but also allows the land to be returned to the local boreal forest ecosystem more quickly. Reclamation planners at Kearl, working closely with local First Nations, aim to achieve a maintenance-free, self-sustaining landscape in the long term, the planning for which takes into account traditional knowledge of the area’s wildlife, habitat and biodiversity. As of 2015, cumulative permanent reclamation on the Kearl lease was approximately 242 acres that include terrestrial, wetland and aquatic ecosystems. ExxonMobil is committed to the responsible, sustainable and consistent stewardship of rehabilitated former operational sites. We support science-based, cost-effective approaches to remediation that utilize consistent criteria and seek to align the interests of a broad array of stakeholders. In 2013, EMES used an organic capping approach to treat marshland and a cove impacted by the Pegasus Pipeline incident. This technique promotes the most effective cleanup with the least environmental disturbance. Some of the affected soil and sediment in the cove was targeted for removal and reactive capping was employed in the open water area using a mixture of sand and clay. This multi-dimensional risk-based approach addresses residual sheening conditions observed in isolated areas in the western part of the cove.
Effectively decommissioning onshore and offshore assets is essential to reducing our overall environmental impact. When operations reach the end of their useful life, we work to ensure the safe and responsible decommissioning of our assets. To do so, we develop decommissioning plans that utilize proven and cost-effective methods and consider potential risks, costs and benefits. Since its creation in 2008, ExxonMobil Environmental Services (EMES) — our global functional organization that provides guidance and support on the remediation and stewardship of surplus sites — has managed more than $5.7 billion of remediation work and returned more than 1,800 properties to beneficial end uses. In 2015 alone, EMES monitored 5,700 active sites in more than 30 countries.
Establishing Conservation Easements on Corporate Lands: A Guide for Corporations and Land Trusts
Whenever possible, we look for opportunities to repurpose former ExxonMobil sites and surplus properties for beneficial use. For example, Harris County, Texas, is home to an inland waterfowl rookery, which serves as a sheltered breeding spot for herons, egrets, spoonbills and other species of coastal water birds. To help protect the rookery, we donated more than five acres of surplus land located adjacent to the rookery for
Tricolored heron at the Armand Bayou waterfowl rookery in Harris County, Texas.
Environmental performance exxonmobil.com/citizenship
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