BAYONNE AND BEYOND – A New Jersey court on Tuesday, Aug. 25 approved a settlement between ExxonMobil and Gov. Chris Christie’s administration over damages due for toxic soil and water contamination in Bayonne, Linden’s Bayway Oil Refinery, and other sites.
The state was originally seeking $8.9 billion for the cleanup and remediation of the two major sites. But the state and ExxonMobil negotiated a $225 million settlement figure which covered the cleanup of the two main sites and others throughout the state.
The agreement gives ExxonMobil a 98 percent discount on the state’s original price tag for restoring and replacing the resources, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council.
The NRDC, along with six other environmental groups, made several efforts to block the settlement.
Exxon’s corporate predecessors began operating at Bayonne in 1877 and at Bayway in 1909. Decades of contamination followed at the two sites.
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