Interview: Ray Lesniak on his appeal of the Exxon-NJ Settlement

ABOVE: From our interview in March 2017

Interview conducted April 29, 2018, by Jeff Epstein, Editor-in-Chief of Citizens’ Media TV

An interview with just-retired New Jersey State Senator Ray Lesniak. Lesniak served in the NJ state legislature for decades and was at the forefront of many historic pieces of environmental legislation. We talk with Ray about his appeal of the travesty-of-a-settlement between Exxon Mobil and the former Chris Christie administration, to lower the penalty of environmental cleanup costs from $8.9 billion to $225 million – a ninety-seven percent reduction.

The only remaining avenue is the NJ State Supreme Court, and Lesniak (and the environmental groups he is working with) is spending most of his energy trying to convince the Supreme Court that he has “standing.” Without standing, Lesniak will not be permitted to walk through the courtroom doors to state his case, no matter how strong his case may be. Remarkably, the new Democratic Phil Murphy administration is fighting the appeal. The administration filed an amicus brief last week to the State Supreme Court stating that the settlement should stand.

Resources referred to in our conversation:

• Ray’s appeal (an 80 page PDF: searchable 40 MB, not searchable 4 MB)
• The David Sirota video on how lots of money flowed between Exxon and the Christie administration.
• News of the appellate court ruling in favor of the settlement.
• Lesniak’s new foundation for youth political engagement