New Jersey Announces Natural Resource Damages Settlements

In separate agreements, Merck & Co., Inc. and Motiva Enterprises LLC/Shell Oil Company are to pay the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) $2.4 million and $2.2 million, respectively, as compensation to the public for ground water pollution at four properties owned by the companies.

DEP also announced separate settlements for 10 other industrial sites where seven companies provided a combined $624,500 and 20 acres of land for aquifer recharge as compensation to the public for both ground and surface water pollution.
Merck agreed to provide $2.38 million, donate 10 acres of land adjacent to the Rahway River and fund a $30,000 restoration project in the Passaic River watershed for contamination found at four of the company’s sites.

Motiva and Shell resolved their liability for ground water contamination at their terminal facilities and about 400 service stations statewide where underground storage tank leaks occurred by providing $2.2 million. In addition, Shell is providing a conservation easement on 51 acres of land along the mouth of the Woodbridge River to address potential sediment and wetland contamination from its Sewaren Terminal.

DEP has been working with the companies to remediate discharges of various fuel contaminants to ground water at their sites throughout the state that were impacted by underground storage tank system leaks, some of which resulted in completed cleanups.

DEP’s preferred voluntary settlement track has resulted in the settlement of natural resource damages at more than 1,600 hazardous sites since 2002. The total preserved wildlife habitat and aquifer recharge area through a “resource-to-resource” form of compensation developed by the state now stands at more than 5,200 acres. In the resource-to-resource compensation model, settling companies must protect an area of land with a good aquifer recharge rate that is similar to the acreage of ground water polluted.

In addition, DEP and the Attorney General’s Office have recovered approximately $35 million since 2002. DEP also is working with about 50 additional responsible parties representing about 100 sites that seek to voluntarily resolve their liability for natural resource damages.

NRD claims are separate from the costs associated with cleaning up contamination. New Jersey’s Spill Compensation and Control Act makes any entity that has discharged hazardous substances onto the land or into the waters of the state liable for both cleanup and for natural resource injuries. BFN