Environmental groups ask to appeal N.J.-Exxon settlement

Source: Philadelphia Inquirer

Environmental groups ask to appeal N.J.-Exxon settlement

Andrew Seidman, Inquirer Trenton Bureau
Last updated: Wednesday, September 23, 2015, 1:08 AM
Posted: Tuesday, September 22, 2015, 5:48 PM

Environmental groups and a state senator on Tuesday asked a judge to let them appeal his approval of a $225 million settlement between New Jersey and ExxonMobil Corp. in a long-running pollution case.

Superior Court Judge Michael Hogan, sitting in Mount Holly, had rejected the groups' request to intervene while settlement proceedings were underway. Now that the judge has signed off on the agreement, the groups say, they should be able to appeal.

The groups, including the Sierra Club and Clean Water Action, want to ensure that the "state and the citizens of the state are getting adequate remedy for damages done to it," their lawyer, Ed Lloyd, told Hogan at a hearing Tuesday. "At this stage in the case, we don't have that remedy."

The groups have argued that the state abdicated its responsibility by settling for a relatively small amount compared with the $8.9 billion it sought at trial last year.

[font size=1]-snip-[/font]

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/politics/nj/20150923_Environmental_groups_ask_to_appeal_N_J_-Exxon_settlement.html