U.S. Water News Online
TRENTON, N.J. -- New Jersey has reached multimillion-dollar settlements over groundwater contamination involving four properties owned by a major pharmaceutical company, as well as several hundred service stations owned by energy companies, state environmental officials said.
"New Jersey's residents will benefit from these monetary and land settlements through cleaner water resources and more public habitat to enjoy," Environmental Protection Commissioner Bradley M. Campbell said in a news release.
Whitehouse Station-based Merck & Co. Inc. will pay $2.4 million for contamination at properties in Rahway, Linden, Hawthorne and Branchburg. The pharmaceutical firm is also donating 10 acres of land near the Rahway River and funding a $30,000 restoration project in the Passaic River watershed.
Houston-based Motiva Enterprises LLC and Shell Oil Co., one of the two companies controlling Motiva, agreed to pay nearly $2.2 million for groundwater contamination at their oil terminals, as well as about 400 service stations across the state where underground storage tanks have leaked. Shell is also providing a conservation easement for land at the mouth of the Woodbridge River.
The companies neither acknowledged nor denied wrongdoing in the settlements.
Merck spokesman Chris Loder said it was important to note that Merck voluntarily initiated dialogue with the state. "Merck believes the agreement will result in significant environmental benefits for the community," he said.
Shell and Motiva said in a statement that the companies worked cooperatively and in good faith with state officials on the agreement. "We consider compliance with environmental regulations of utmost importance and share the state's goal of protecting its natural resources," the companies' statement said.
Settlements over terminals and service station sites also included Pennzoil-Quaker State Co., for $22,938, and Jiffy Lube International Inc. for $28,550.
The Department of Environmental Protection also announced more than $800,000 in settlements involving 10 sites owned by other companies.
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