Companies Agree to Pay $130 Million in Passaic River Cleanup Suit

 A number of companies have reached an agreement with the state that would partly settle wide-ranging litigation surrounding the pollution of the Passaic River, the Department of Environmental Protection and the Attorney General’s office announced Tuesday.

Officials at both agencies did not immediately respond to questions, including regarding particulars of the settlement, citing the fact that the matter is still “technically” in the midst of litigation, a spokesman for Acting Attorney General John Hoffman said in a statement. 

Respol S.A., an Argentinian energy company, Spanish firms YPF, YPF Holdings and YPF International, along with CLH Holdings, Maxus Energy Corp., Maxis International Energy Corp. and Tierra Solutions have agreed to pay $130 million to the state. The state, however, has reserved the right to pursue claims totalling up to $530 million, the Attorney General’s office said.

The deal is pending final agreement from the DEP and the courts but is expected to be approved in the fall, the Attorney General’s office also said.

Tuesday’s settlement is the latest chapter in litigation going back seven years involving the former Diamond Shamrock site on Lister Avenue in the Ironbound, where pesticides including the defoliant Agent Orange were made for use in the Vietnam War. Involved is another company, Occidental Chemical Corp., and other firms that have been associated with the site.

Occidental was not part of the settlement announced Tuesday, even though state officials said it was responsible for the “bulk” of the damages since it is the successor to Diamond Shamrock, which the courts have previously found dumped in the river for decades. Tuesday’s settlement, if approved, will allow the state to seek damages against Occidental.  

In a separate but related agreement, 258 defendants earlier this year have also agreed to pay $35 million towards the cleanup of the waterway. Those defendants -- which include municipal governments, water-treatment plants, businesses and other entities -- were brought into the litigation by Maxus and Tierra. Those companies are themselves among those who reached the settlement Tuesday and who had argued that the hundreds of other defendants contributed to the river’s pollution.

In 1984, the federal Environmental Protection Agency declared the Diamond Alkali plant, as well as the lower Passaic River and upper Newark Bay, a toxic “Superfund” site.

The first phase of a two-phase cleanup began last year, when the EPA began overseeing the removal of contaminated sediment from the lower Passaic River.

The total cost of the cleanup is estimated to be between $1 and $4 billion, a DEP spokesman said.