On multiple occasions over 20 years, the courts have found Exxon responsible and liable for 100 years of pollution and destruction of 1500 acres of forest, wetland, tideland, meadow, underlying groundwater, and nearby waterways at Exxon's refineries in Linden and Bayonne.
In late February 2015, just before the latest presiding judge was to finally rule on how much Exxon must pay for this mess, the Christie Administration announced it had settled the case. Although the state's scientific experts had documented $8.9 billion worth of natural resource damages caused by Exxon at the two sites, the Christie Administration proposed to settle for only $225 million. That's less than 3 cents on the dollar!
Exxon is still responsible for the entire cost of the basic clean-up at these two sites but continues to drag its feet on the pace and extent of that clean-up. The natural resource damages are supposed to cover the additional costs of restoration as well as the value of the lost use of the land, water, and other natural resources by the general public. In addition to settling for pennies on the dollar, the deal is bad because it:
- Lets Exxon off the hook from undisclosed damages at 16 additional sites and roughly 800 gas stations.
- Requires NJ to pay its own attorney's fees.
- Allows Christie to raid the settlement funds to plug general fund budget holes rather than spend the funds on restoration.
Take Action! Please urge your legislative leaders and your legislators to support SCR163/ACR230 to allow the NJ public to constitutionally dedicate natural resource damages litigation proceeds to environmental purposes. Urge them to do all they can to stop Governor Christie from raiding environmental funds to plug budget holes.
