Judge rejects challenge to C. Christie's $8.5B gift to Exxon
Opponents can't block state's $225M Exxon settlement, judge says
NJ Advance Media for NJ.com By Tim Darragh October 09, 2015
Environmental groups and a state senator do not have the legal right to intervene in the Christie administration's $225-million clean-up settlement with ExxonMobil, a judge has ruled.
Superior Court Judge Michael Hogan in Union County, who signed off on the settlement in August, said on Friday the New Jersey Sierra Club, Clean Water Action, the Delaware Riverkeeper, Delaware Riverkeeper Network, Environment New Jersey and state Sen. Raymond Lesniak have no legal standing to intervene in the settlement.
"Only the DEP (the state Department of Environmental Protection) is authorized to bring natural resources damages suits under the Spill Act, and the Environmental Rights Act does not allow private parties to bring damages claims," Hogan wrote in a 48-page opinion.
Not only did Hogan rule against the environmental groups, he said the legal cases cited in their arguments to intervene "actually work against their assertion that they have standing."
...They sought legal intervention after the Christie administration agreed with ExxonMobil to accept a deal costing $225 million to clean up environmental damages to wetlands around former refineries in Linden and Bayonne. Environmentalists were outraged because the state had argued in pre-settlement filings that the cost of the cleanup would be $8.9 billion.
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2015/10/judge_rules_in_exxon_settlement_appeal.html