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Governor Chris Christie wants to be our next president, but he’s letting big polluters like Exxon do dirty deeds, dirt cheap in his home state. Sign here to tell Christie that real leaders are tough on polluters, and don't give them sweetheart deals in court.
Friend,
When Exxon polluted 1,800 acres of New Jersey's waterways and wetlands, the state took them to court. For more than 20 years New Jersey Governors have fought the oil giant with everything they had. And the courts have listened, with Judges finding Exxon responsible for environmental degradation around two of its oil refineries.1
The most recent judge was about to make a final ruling on the $8.9 billion lawsuit earlier this year, when at the last minute Christie settled with Exxon for only $225 million — a tiny fraction of what could have been won, or of what’s needed to repair the damage Exxon caused to local wildlife, ecosystems and environments.2
But it's not too late to fix this mess. Before the Judge's final ruling, Christie still has time to withdraw his settlement offer, and stand and fight in court for the people and environment of New Jersey. Sign here to tell Christie to get off the campaign trail, and go to war with Exxon over their pollution of New Jersey's Environment.
Christie wants to use $175 million of the settlement to plug a hole in the New Jersey general budget. And this is not the first time he’s pilfered funds meant for environmental cleanup.3 The state also still owes years of legal fees, which would be paid by the settlement. If Christie has his way, little to no money will actually go to help repair the state’s natural resources.
As if that wasn’t bad enough, Christie’s sweetheart deal to Big Oil includes 16 additional Exxon oil facilities and more than 800 gas stations — effectively holding Exxon blameless for any environmental damage done at other locations in the state.4
New Jersey's courts will hear oral arguments on the settlement as soon as July 30, and our allies at Environment New Jersey are fighting to intervene in the case. If we want to turn up the heat on Chris Christie, we have to act before the judge rules.
More than 40,000 of our New Jersey neighbors have already weighed in against Christie’s settlement; Now, they need support from all of us who care about clean water, and holding Big Oil accountable. Plus, with Christie spending much of his time in other states running for President, now is the perfect time for a national audience to hold him accountable. Christie’s campaign slogan is #tellingitlikeitis. Let’s tell it like it really is.
Click here to tell Chris Christie to clean up New Jersey and retract his sweet deal to Exxon.
Keep telling it like it is,
Drew and the Big Oil cleanup crew at Environmental Action
1 - Court imposes retroactive liability on ExxonMobile for Natural Resource Damages, New Jersey Law Journal. Feb, 23, 2009.
2 - Shortchanging New Jersey by Billions:Chris Christie’s Exxon Settlement Is Bad for New Jersey, New York Times, March 4, 2015.
3 - Christie vetoes bill that would have returned money to Passaic River cleanup, NorthJersey.com, May 11, 2015.
4 - Critics say Exxon Mobil settlement bad deal for Paulsboro, Atlantic City, Newsworks, July 9, 2015. |
