- The $225M settlement approved last week between Exxon Mobil (XOM -0.3%) and New Jersey confirms the company must clean up more than 1,500 contaminated properties from gas stations to refineries, but no one can say exactly how much the company will spend or how long the cleanup will take, which has outraged environmental groups.
- An XOM spokesperson says the cleanup may take years, while the state's Department of Environmental Protection says the extent of contamination and the geology of each site will be among the issues that will determine the timetable; bigger sites, such as some named in the settlement, could take decades.
- The total cost of cleanup also is unclear; XOM has spent nearly $260M since 1991 to clean up the Bayonne and Linden refinery sites and could spend "in the hundreds of millions range," the Superior Court judge wrote in his judgment.