Noticias
y campañas
de la OCA
en español
More than a dozen public and private New Jersey water suppliers will share $67 million from the settlement of a lawsuit accusing major oil companies of polluting groundwater with a gasoline additive.
The case began with lawsuits filed by municipal water suppliers and private companies from New Jersey and 16 other states claiming public drinking water supplies were contaminated with methyl tertiary butyl ether, or MTBE.
The lawsuits were consolidated in federal court in New York and led to an overall settlement last month of $422 million, with New Jersey's share amounting to about $67 million.
Joseph J. McGovern of the Parker McCay law firm that represented the water suppliers said the settlement is the largest to arise from MTBE pollution lawsuits over the past decade.
"It is a significant amount that will ensure the quality of the groundwater of New Jersey," McGovern said.
"We thought it was important to take this case on behalf of public entities and water companies and make the oil companies pay for the cleanup, not taxpayers and ratepayers," said another Parker McCay lawyer, John C. Gillespie.
Full Story: http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/index.ssf?/base/news-10/121454133352510.xml&coll=1
