A betrayal of Garden State residents. An outrageous abuse of power. An arbitrary and capricious settlement.

These are among the nicer things being said this week about a reported settlement by the state in a long and bitter struggle to recover $8.9 billion in damages from the Exxon Mobil Corporation.

News broke Friday that New Jersey has agreed to accept $250 million from the oil giant to compensate for environmental damage done to more than 1,500 acres of meadows, marshes and wetlands in the Meadowlands.

The announcement has environmentalists, lawmakers, legal experts and average citizens shaking their heads in bewilderment and their fists in disgust.

"They are settling for three cents on the dollar in a case where Exxon's responsibility has already been established," Sen. Raymond Lesniak, D-Union County, said in an angry statement. "This is a grossly inadequate amount of compensation that lets the mega oil company off the hook."

The purported deal is all the more frustrating given the enormous disparity between what the state stood to gain and what actually will reach its coffers should the deal stand.

An aerial shot of the Bayway Refinery is seen in this 2008 file photo. (Frank Conlon |The Star-Ledger)

So why would the governor accept such a paltry amount before a judge had ruled in the 11-year-old lawsuit - especially when all signs pointed to a large payout?

Is this Christie cozying up to the oil industry in advance of his widely expected 2016 run for the White House? Having friends in high places surely couldn't hurt his chances, and they don't come much higher and more powerful than Exxon Mobil.

Or does Christie see the $250 million as a quick fix for the state's budget deficit - the kind of gimmick he has so publicly decried?

Surely it's no coincidence that a provision inserted into this year's budget allows the governor to divert monies obtained from environmental litigation away from pollution cleanup and into the state's general fund, as the International Business Times reported.

Jeff Tittel, president of the Sierra Club's New Jersey chapter, sees both factors at work.

"All along the judges were ruling in favor of New Jersey," Tittel said in a statement. "The administration had no reason to settle other than balancing the budget and giving away the store to Exxon at the expense of New Jersey's environment."

The matter is far from over. Environmentalists swear to fight for the public's right to be compensated for the fouling of valuable public resources. And the agreement will be submitted for public comment next month, and for court approval in May.

With a vehement enough response from the citizenry, we can make this ridiculous agreement go away.

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