06/10/2026
NY/NJ Baykeeper Files Motion to Intervene to Hold OxyChem Accountable for Passaic River Cleanup Costs
NY/NJ Baykeeper has filed a Motion to Intervene in BASF Catalysts LLC, et al. v. Occidental Chemical Corporation (a Texas Corporation) to oppose OxyChem TX’s attempt to use corporate restructuring and legal maneuvers that could be used to evade its responsibility for funding the cleanup of the Passaic River.
Many parties responsible for contaminating the Passaic River have agreed to pay their fair share of the costs associated with the river’s remediation and restoration. OxyChem, however, is responsible for more than 90 percent of the contamination, including highly toxic dioxins, and has spent decades fighting efforts to hold it accountable. Through litigation, public relations campaigns, and misinformation tactics, the company has repeatedly sought to avoid paying the costs associated with the environmental damage it caused.
Now, OxyChem is pursuing a corporate reorganization that could shield the company from its cleanup obligations, placing the ongoing remediation effort, public health, and New Jersey taxpayers at significant risk.
NY/NJ Baykeeper’s motion seeks to ensure that OxyChem remains financially accountable for the cleanup and to the communities that have endured more than forty years of contamination in the Passaic River, as well as to the broader NY/NJ Harbor Estuary ecosystem.
For decades, the Ironbound Community Corporation, the EPA Citizens Advisory Group for the Passaic River Superfund Site, NY/NJ Baykeeper and others have worked tirelessly to secure the cleanup and restoration of the Lower Passaic River by the parties responsible for its contamination.
Allowing OxyChem to escape its obligations would undermine the polluter-pays principle and jeopardize one of the most important environmental restoration efforts in New Jersey.
