New Jersey OKs slightly better settlement over polluted land where childhood cancer cases rose

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press

TOMS RIVER, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey has accepted a revised settlement over chemical dumping that turned a Jersey Shore community into one of America’s most notorious toxic waste cleanup sites. But opponents say the deal is only marginally better than before, and plan to sue the state to block it. The new deal with the German company BASF adds slightly more money and land to a deal to compensate the public for natural resources damage caused by decades of toxic waste dumping by its corporate predecessor in a community that saw its rate of childhood cancer cases increase. But a group representing Toms River residents calls the deal vastly inadequate.