New York’s Attorney General, Andrew Cuomo, has announced his intention to sue ExxonMobil for failing to clean up an oil spill which occurred over 50 years ago in Brooklyn.

According to the state lawyer’s office around 8 million tonnes of oil and petrol by-products remain buried beneath the borough.

In 1990 state environment officials and Exxon agreed a deal which would see the oil giant clean up the land, but no timescale was set.

The planned legal action would fix a clear schedule which would require the company to carry out the work by a specific date or face penalties.

The Attorney General’s office plans to sue another four companies for further contamination of the borough.

These are BP, Chevron, Keyspan and copper smelter Phelps Dodge.

Sam Bond

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