|
The Times reported last week that the settlement, which has
not been made public, had been reached after 11 years of legal
battle over New Jersey's claim for damages from Exxon Mobil for
the contamination of more than 1,500 acres of wetlands and
waters.
On Thursday, the newspaper quoted Bradley Campbell, commissioner
of New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection when the
case was filed in 2004, as saying the favorable deal was reached
when Porrino became involved.
Porrino "inserted himself into the case, elbowed aside the
attorney general and career employees who had developed and
prosecuted the litigation, and cut the deal favorable to Exxon,"
the Times quoted Bradley as saying.
The decision to settle for "roughly three cents on the dollar"
after years of litigation was an "embarrassment to law
enforcement and good government," Bradley said in a separate
opinion piece in the newspaper, headlined "Shortchanging New
Jersey by Billions".
New Jersey Assembly speaker Vincent Prieto and John Mckeon,
chairman of the assembly's judiciary committee, both Democrats,
plan to hold a hearing on the deal on March 19, the report said.
Christie, a Republican, is considered a potential presidential
candidate but has not yet declared his intentions.
Exxon and Christie's office did not immediately respond to a
request for comment and Campbell could not be reached.
(Reporting by Ismail Shakil in Bengaluru; Editing by Gopakumar
Warrier and Ted Kerr)
[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
 |
|
