From philly.com:
A judge on Tuesday approved New Jersey's controversial $225 million settlement with ExxonMobil Corp., following a decade of litigation over the oil giant's pollution of more than a thousand acres in the northern part of the state.
Environmental groups and Democrats in the Legislature had opposed the accord, which was announced in April. At trial last year, the state sought $8.9 billion in damages, and critics have since accused the Christie administration of settling for pennies on the dollar.
Critics have been
slamming Christie over
this deal with Exxon Mobil ever since
it was announced.
In terms of the environmental damage that has been caused - which belies the fact that $9 billion in damages was claimed to begin with - Chris Christie, by many observers' measure, has sold out his state, for chump change and a slap on the wrist for Exxon-Mobil.
As if that isn't bad enough, it is almost criminal how blatantly political the whole charade appears to be.
In agreeing to such a small settlement in the Exxon case, Christie placates his politically connected colleagues and gets himself some extra cash to spend on his budget's new tax cuts. He also gives a gift to an oil industry donor just as he starts raising money for a 2016 White House bid.
But for me, here's the kicker. Back from the philly.com article, I see this gem.
The first $50 million of the settlement must be deposited in a fund for environmental cleanup. Another $50 million will go toward attorneys' fees, and the rest to the state's general fund.
So out of the $225 million settlement, which already represents 2.5 cents to the dollar of the original suit, over a fifth goes just to paying the legal fees. The same exact amount that is actually dedicated to environmental cleanup, mind you. First of all, how many people are you employing for $50 million to seem like a reasonable sum? Should've been a lawyer, apparently. Add that to the questionable circumstances under which this settlement was even allowed in the first place, and I think we have the final cherry on top for this heaping pile of corruption and toxic waste pie.
Sheesh. As much as New Jerseyians are complaining about Chris Christie being on the campaign trail, perhaps they should be considering themselves lucky he's not around to throw them under another bus. Then again, maybe not.