Exxon Mobil's $225 Million Spill Pact Backed by N.J. Judge

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie won a judge's approval of a $225 million settlement with Exxon Mobil to end litigation over decades-old pollution, an accord Democratic lawmakers and environmental groups call inadequate.

The deal is a "reasonable compromise," a state judge ruled Tuesday, even though New Jersey sought damages of $8.9 billion to resolve a 2004 case over the company's refinery and petrochemical plants in Bayonne and Linden. The accord will pay for Exxon's damage to natural resources.

Exxon and the Department of Environmental Protection settled the case in February after an eight-month trial, sparking an outcry from activists who said the state sold out to corporate interests for 3 cents on the dollar.

Acting New Jersey Attorney General John Hoffman said the deal would ensure Exxon would continue remediation work at polluted sites.

Michael Hogan, a retired Superior Court judge who heard the case, said the deal was fair, in the public interest and faithful to the state's Spill Compensation and Control Act. New Jersey will retain the right to pursue litigation against Exxon, according to Hogan.

"The DEP applied rational methods in order to estimate total damages and determine what a fair payment would be for those damages," Hogan ruled. "Although far smaller than the estimated $8.9 billion in damages, Exxon's payment represents a reasonable compromise given the substantial litigation risks the DEP faced at trial and would face on appeal."

Exxon agreed in 1991 to clean up almost 1,600 acres on the site near New York Harbor, and has paid almost $258 million since then to do so, Hogan wrote in his 81-page opinion.

The case is New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Exxon Mobil, L-3026-04, Superior Court of New Jersey, Union County (Elizabeth).

Bloomberg News
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