Michele Donato won a critical legal ruling on behalf of Save Barnegat Bay in a challenge to a natural resource damage settlement between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and BASF Corporation.

In the appeal, Save Barnegat Bay (SBB) argues that the DEP failed to consider the damages caused to the Toms River, Barnegat Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean, caused by decades of devastating pollution from the former Ciba-Geigy chemical plant.

The appellate court allowed Save Barnegat Bay to present evidence of offsite damages not considered by the DEP in the settlement.  SBB is pursuing the appeal as contrary to the natural resource damage decisions in Exxon Mobil. N.J. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 453 N.J. Super. 588 (Law Div. 2015);  N.J. Dep’t of Envtl. Prot. v. Exxon Mobil Corp., 453 N.J. Super. 272 (App. Div. 2018).

NJ.com ran an article about this noteworthy interim decision: https://www.nj.com/ocean/2025/02/new-evidence-allowed-in-brazen-jersey-shore-polluter-case-site-considered-one-of-worst-in-us.html