Anatomy Of A Christie Lie – Media Failure To Understand Nuance From Core

I want to write this down before I go to bed in case I die of a heart attack in my sleep after reading the news before bed.

Governor Christie again flat out lied about the Exxon dirty deal with this remark at a town hall today, which falsely states that DEP cleanup plans ignore the cost of cleanup: (Bergen Record story)

“What I will tell you is, they’re going to clean everything up, no matter what it costs, and we get $225 million on top of it.”

Fact checking this statement is not an exercise in nuance.

Exxon will NOT “clean everything up, no matter what it costs”.

That assertion is completely false as a matter of law, policy, and DEP practice.

First of all, the Gov.’s comments  involve several BILLION dollars; second the law is absolutely clear and it directly contradicts the Governor’s statement; and third the Gov.’s own DEP flat out contradicts him.

This is NOT NUANCE.

Costs are a major consideration in NJ cleanup law and DEP policy, which explicitly allows for what legally are called “engineering and institutional controls”, or so called “non-permanent remedies” we deride as “caps” and “pave and wave”.

Here’s what DEP says about the role of costs and all that:

“Historically, site remediation required the total removal of the contamination source(s) or implementing permanent means to reduce the contaminant levels to accepted Department standards. It has been found that such permanent remedies may be technically infeasible or cost prohibitive; therefore, the need for and use of non-permanent remedies has become more prevalent. “

 We tried to explain that and repost this:

• Media Confusing Exxon Bayway Remediation (Cleanup) With Natural Resource Restoration

Get it right next time, please!

[Ps – just print a table and maps from the Report in the newspaper that shows that:

• $2.63 billion was for on-site restoration at Bayway and Bayonne refineries – this cost estimate assumed $1.52 billion for complete excavation of 9 million tons of toxic sludge, soils, and sediment, which is something DEP would NEVER require but just cap in place; and

• $6.36 Billion is for OFF SITE COMPENSATORY damages to habitat (not to things like recreation and lost public use).  This is compensation to the public and replacement for the pollution and destruction of natural resources for 100 years. It is based on restoration costs of up to $274,000 per acre.