ExxonMobil to pay $9.5 million in connection with hazardous waste disposal in Mantua Creek
ExxonMobil will pay New Jersey $9.5 million to settle a lawsuit claiming it dumped barrels of petroleum in the Mantua Creek.
The state’s lawsuit, filed in Gloucester County Superior Court in 2019, alleged the company used a 12.5-acre site in East Greenwich Township and Paulsboro Borough to dispose of hazardous substances. The waste has since leached cancer-causing chemicals into the area's waterways, according to the state.
The payment will compensate the state for damage to its natural resources, said acting Attorney General Platkin in a press release.
“When polluters treat some of our most pristine and sensitive areas as their own private disposal grounds, we hold them accountable,” he said.
In the late 1950s, the company dumped unlabeled drums filled with petroleum distillates — including carcinogenic polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs — and other industrial contaminants at the site, according to the state.
Adjacent to W. Cohawkin and Berkeley roads, the Lail property is the location of one of the company’s former refineries.
From 2019:ExxonMobil 'surprised' by NJ's contamination lawsuit over Gloucester County property
ExxonMobil removed the drums in the mid-1990s and cleaned up the site between 2008 and 2010 following an agreement with the Department of Environmental Protection to clean up the site from 2008 to 2010. This included the excavation and removal of contaminated soil and backfilling the area to restore its physical features. The company also planted trees, shrubs and more than 6,000 aquatic plants.
Despite these remediation efforts, PCBs were found in the groundwater and other nearby ecological resources.
In 2017, an environmental contractor working for the company found PCBs in small mammals, fish and soil samples from the site, according to the state.
PCBs are man-made chemicals once used in hundreds of industrial applications but were banned in 1979 for posing numerous health risks to people and animals. Besides cancer, exposure to PCBs can cause severe neurological, reproductive, endocrine and immune system issues, according to the Environmental Protection Agency.
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The state also alleged ExxonMobil violated New Jersey’s Spill Compensation and Control Act and Water Pollution Control Act in the lawsuit. Other claims included accusations of trespassing and creating a public nuisance.
The consent judgment, released Monday, did not address any unpaid past cleanup and removal costs related to the site, but it does note that neither side has plans to continue cleaning up the site at this time.
This article originally appeared on Cherry Hill Courier-Post: ExxonMobil will pay $9.5 million for polluting Mantua Creek
