|
TRENTON – Attorney General
Anne Milgram announced today that a Superior
Court judge has directed Getty Petroleum Marketing
Inc. and Power Test Realty to pay the state
more than $866,932 as compensation for costs
incurred by the Schools Development Authority
in cleaning up a polluted service station
property acquired for a school construction
project in Elizabeth.
Following a nine-day trial
in which 13 witnesses testified, Superior
Court Judge Ross R. Anzaldi ruled that both
Getty and Power Test are liable for petroleum-related
soil and groundwater contamination at the
former service station property on Newark
Avenue in Elizabeth.
The judge also found that
both Getty, of East Meadow, N.Y., and Power
Test, of Jericho, N.Y., “abrogated their
responsibility to take appropriate action”
to address the pollution problem, and were
unjustly enriched because they received fair
market value for the property (as if it were
not polluted).
Located at 743 Newark Avenue
in Elizabeth, the property was acquired by
the Schools Development Authority in 2003
-- the Authority was then known as the New
Jersey Schools Construction Corporation --
and remediated by the state. Today, it is
the site of Elizabeth School #30.
“This is an important
decision for the citizens of New Jersey,”
said Attorney General Milgram. “Substantial
public dollars were invested in the clean-up
of this property, and it’s only fair
that the responsible parties – those
who allowed it to become contaminated and
failed to meet their duty to remove that contamination
– should pay.”
“I am very pleased
by the outcome of this litigation,”
said SDA CEO Kris Kolluri. “The Schools
Development Authority has been successfully
pro-active in the cost-recovery measures it
has taken to hold companies accountable for
improper job performance and, in this instance,
for their environmental responsibilities.
This decision in favor of the SDA is a tremendous
victory for the taxpayers of New Jersey."
The Schools Development Authority
acquired the Getty service station property
in Elizabeth through condemnation in October
2003.
In 2004, separate testing
efforts by both Getty and the state revealed
the presence of various hazardous substances
in the soil and groundwater including benzene,
xylene, ethyl benzene and methyl tertiary
ether.
In April 2004, additional
investigation uncovered two, 3,000-gallon
underground storage tanks for unleaded gasoline,
and a 4,000-galloon underground storage tank
for leaded gasoline. In addition, soil testing
revealed the presence of hazardous pollutants
where the tanks had been found, including
total petroleum hydrocarbons.
The Schools Development Authority
subsequently had 6,300 cubic yards of petroleum-contaminated
soil removed from the Getty property, and
also removed a total of eight underground
fuel storage tanks – including a 550-gallon
oil storage tank that had been found underground
on an adjoining property.
In a two-count suit filed by the Division
of Law on behalf of the Schools Development
Authority in 2006, the state charged that
the Newark Avenue property became contaminated
over a span of years by the discharge of hazardous
materials, and by the underground storage
of petroleum products in massive tanks.
The suit contended that the
state’s claim for recovery of clean-up
and excavation costs site was authorized by
the New Jersey Spill Act.
In ruling against Getty and
Power Test on August 25 , Judge Anzaldi found
that expert testimony introduced by attorneys
for the state was “credible, convincing,
probative and ultimately more reliable”
than testimony offered by the defendants.
Deputy Attorney General Jennifer
Killough Herrera served as trial attorney
for the Schools Development Authority. Deputy
Attorneys General A. Paul Stofa, Edward Devine,
Joanna Grayer and Justine Torres assisted,
as did State Investigator Denele Byrne.
#
# # |
