Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Judge says its the best you can get
So after many years of polluting wetlands and marshes around its refineries in New Jersey, Exxon will get aeay with paying a mere $225 Million, thanks to the efforts of The Outlaw Jersey Whale, Chris Christie.
New Jersey’s widely debated $225 million settlement of a pollution lawsuit with Exxon Mobil Corporation was approved on Tuesday by a state judge who called the deal fair, reasonable and in the public interest.Of course it is at the expense of New Jersey residents. Did anyone really expect a major oil corporation to pay for cleaning up their shit?
The ruling comes in a longstanding legal battle in which New Jersey demanded $8.9 billion in compensation for natural resource damage to more than 1,500 acres of wetlands, marshes, meadows and waters at refinery sites that Exxon once owned in Bayonne and Linden.
Environmental groups, federal and state politicians and others had sharply criticized the administration of Gov. Chris Christie for accepting just a small fraction of the damages that the state had long sought, and had filed briefs asking the judge to reject the deal.
But in an 81-page opinion, the judge, Michael J. Hogan of Superior Court, found that “although far smaller than the estimated $8.9 billion in damages, Exxon’s payment represents a reasonable compromise given the substantial litigation risks” that the state faced at trial and would face on appeal.
Criticism of the decision was almost immediate. Margaret Brown, a lawyer with the Natural Resources Defense Council, one of the organizations that fought the deal in court, said, “This is a multi-billion-dollar gift to Exxon Mobil from Gov. Christie and his administration, at the expense of New Jersey residents.”
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