TRENTON — State lawmakers are calling on a Superior Court judge to reject a controversial pollution settlement between Gov. Chris Christie's administration and Exxon Mobil.

The state Senate today passed a resolution condemning the deal, which settles Exxon's liability for pollution at two refinery sites for $225 million. While the details of the settlement have yet to be made public, the figure has caused uproar because the state's lawyers had been seeking as much as $8.9 billion at trial.

The Senate can't compel Judge Michael Hogan to heed its instructions, but several Democratic lawmakers said the resolution sends a strong message as he weighs his decision over whether to approve the deal.

"This is the first time I have ever seen our legislature, on either side, say to a sitting judge who is handling a case that we are outraged by the terms of the settlement," said Sen. Bob Smith (D-Middlesex), who heads the senate environment and energy committee.

Opponents claimed the resolution was premature and sets a bad precedent of intervening in active negotiations between the state and polluters.

The deal has drawn criticism because the settlement figure amounts to less than 3 percent of what the state claimed it was owed. But Christie's office has claimed that it represents the single largest settlement in the state's history for a lawsuit of its kind.

"Set aside the partisan and political rhetoric and by any objective measure, this fair and historic settlement continues Governor Christie's record of achieving some of the largest environmental damage settlement victories when compared to past administrations of both parties," Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for the governor, said in an e-mail after the vote.

Sen. Kevin O'Toole (R-Essex) said the Democrats were playing "Monday morning quarterback" and could jeopardize the state's ability to reach settlements with polluters going forward.

"We are sending a message to companies trying to settle in the future, with this or future administrations, 'Don't do it. Don't work with the state,'" O'Toole said.

Several Republican lawmakers said the senate should wait until the full agreement is made public. The settlement is scheduled to be published in the New Jersey register in early April, and will be subject to a 30 day comment period before Hogan will have to approve it.

Nicholas Scutari (D-Union), who lives near the Bayway refinery in Linden, said that by then it could be too late.

"There's too many questions with respect to this settlement for us to sit idly by and tell our constituents, 'Don't worry about it,'" Scutari said.

Lawmakers also passed a measure on Monday to apply more money from environmental settlements toward environmental restoration projects.

The bill, sponsored by Sen. Paul Sarlo (D-Bergen) would set aside half of the money on top of $50 million for the state's Hazardous Discharge Site Cleanup fund. Under language proposed by the governor, anything over $50 million would go into the state's general fund.

"Funds from legal actions or settlements should be used to help clean-up and restoration," Sarlo said. "That is the intent of the lawsuits in the first place."

Christie vetoed a previous measure that would apply the same formula last year.

S.P. Sullivan may be reached at ssullivan@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.