Breaking news from the Times:

Exxon Mobil Cleanup Effort Continues on Brooklyn Spill:

The Brooklyn spill, which resulted from an industrial explosion in 1950, released an estimated 17 million gallons of oil and oil products, polluted the soil, left traces of toxic chemicals in Newtown Creek, led to years of community and environmental outcry and became the basis of several continuing lawsuits.

Nearly eight million gallons remain beneath the Exxon Mobil property and nearby properties along Kingsland Avenue, though the contamination cannot be seen or smelled. How long it will take to get rid of the remaining material is unclear. “We’ll be here until the job is done and done right,” said Barry Wood, a spokesman for Exxon Mobil.

Having begun the cleanup effort almost twenty years ago, do-gooder, community-minded Exxon Mobil is still churning along in ridding Greenpoint, Brooklyn of its petrotoxins. Maybe by 2027 Newtown Creek will no longer resemble rainbowy puddles near gas stations.

Apparently, cleaning oil spills progresses with the same efficiency as lawsuits. Decades pass. Platform shoes come and go and come again. The Red Sox win the World Series. Multiple wars happen.

Despite its cleanup effort, Exxon Mobil remains under scrutiny. It was one of five companies cited in a lawsuit filed by the New York attorney general’s office on Tuesday seeking to compel a faster cleanup. The other four were BP, Chevron, KeySpan and Phelps Dodge. Two other lawsuits resulting from the spill, one filed by Riverkeeper, an environmental group, and another filed by local residents, are pending.