Shell, Sunoco Settle Groundwater Suit With New Hampshire
New Hampshire reached a $35 million settlement with Shell Oil Co. and Sunoco Inc. of a lawsuit over claims that the gasoline refiners and manufacturers used chemicals that contaminated groundwater.
The state sued a number of oil companies in 2003, charging that they knew the gasoline additive methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) would pollute water supplies, state Attorney General Michael Delaney said today in a statement.
“My office will continue to hold oil companies responsible for their role in causing groundwater contamination in this state,” Delaney said. “This is a substantial recovery that will be used to clean up contaminated groundwaters throughout New Hampshire.”
A trial against the other remaining defendants, which include Exxon Mobil Corp. (XOM), ConocoPhillips (COP), Irving Oil Ltd., Citgo Petroleum Corp. and Vitol SA, is set to begin in Concord, New Hampshire, in January. It may last three to four months.
The state has settled the suit with other oil companies, including Hess Corp. and Chevron Corp., Assistant Attorney General Mary Maloney said in an interview.
Maloney said the state may seek “several hundreds of millions” of dollars in damages in the jury trial. MTBE continues to be a pollutant in New Hampshire, especially since many residents use well water, she said.
“MTBE, because of its ubiquity and solubility, gets into the bedrock,” she said.
Press-relations representatives for Houston-based Shell and Philadelphia-based Sunoco didn’t immediately reply to messages seeking comment on the settlement. Shell’s U.S. unit is part of Netherlands-based Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA), and Sunoco is a unit of Dallas-based Energy Transfer Partners LP. (ETP)
The case is State of New Hampshire v. Hess Corp., 03-C- 0550, State of New Hampshire Superior Court (Merrimack).
To contact the reporter on this story: Don Jeffrey in New York at [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Michael Hytha at [email protected]
Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
