Appellate Division Upholds the ExxonMobil Natural Resource Damage Settlement

The New Jersey Appellate Division rejected an appeal from Environmental Groups and a former State Legislator of the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection’s two administrative consent orders (ACOs) with ExxonMobil resolving a lawsuit over Natural Resource Damages (NRD) assessed at its facilities in Linden and Bayonne. The settlement was controversial as the $225 million was far less than what certain experts had originally estimated the damages to be. The Appellate Division upheld the ACOs, which had been approved by the trial judge. ExxonMobil still remains responsible for all clean-up and remedial costs related to contamination at those facilities.