May 25, 2017

New Jersey announced that the ConocoPhillips Company has agreed to pay the State $39 million to resolve its liability for damage to the environment and injury to natural resources caused by a gasoline additive known as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE). ConocoPhillips was one of nearly 50 companies named in a June 2007 lawsuit in which the State sued numerous oil and chemical companies for damages to New Jersey’s ground water as a result of the defendants’ manufacture, blending and distribution of MTBE. The defendants include major petroleum refiners, distributors and sellers of gasoline in New Jersey, and independent chemical manufacturers of MTBE. NJ