A Superior Court judge on Monday denied attempts by a coalition of environmental groups and a Democratic state lawmaker to intervene in a pollution settlement between Gov. Chris Christie’s administration and Exxon Mobil, S. P. Sullivan writes today in NJ.com.

The decision comes as the judge prepares to rule on the $225 million deal, which administration officials have defended as the largest of its kind in New Jersey history.

Critics, including state Sen. Ray Lesniak (D-Union) and a collection of environmental groups, have slammed the deal because at trial, the state had claimed it was owed $8.9 billion as compensation for Exxon’s decades of pollution at two North Jersey refineries.

They filed two separate motions to intervene in the case last month, seeking to become parties to the suit.

Writing that such a move would “unduly delay” the conclusion of the decade-old lawsuit, Judge Michael Hogan ruled the groups had not proven the state Department of Environmental Protection had abandoned their obligation to serve the public interest, as they had argued in court on Friday.

In order to intervene, they would have had to have shown attorneys for the state had colluded with Exxon in drafting the deal, which resolves much of Exxon’s liability for contamination at more than a dozen industrial sites and hundreds of gas stations around the state.

But the parties, “have done nothing to overcome the presumption of adequate representation that arises when they share the same ultimate goal with an original party.” Hogan wrote. “They have not demonstrated collusion, nonfeasance, or lack of notice of the opportunity for public comments.”

On the Arthur Kill along New York’s Staten Island "right colored kayaks bobbed around the rotted hull of a World War II submarine chaser that was rusted into a ghostly shell and lapped by water as salty as tears.

"The kayaks paddled by tourists then glided a few feet away to a decayed, partly submerged ferry, part of the "Graveyard of Ships" tour, which winds through a marine salvage yard in New York City that is the final resting place for dozens of working boats and military vessels."

In story for Reuters, Barbara Goldberg writes:

Once considered eyesores to steer clear of, some junkyards, underwater scrap yards and landfills are being recast as sight-seeing attractions.

Sometimes dubbed "ruin tourism" or even "ruin porn," dramatic photographs online showing deteriorated boats emerging at low tide or automobile carcasses swallowed up by lush moss are enticing the public to see the decaying sites for themselves.

"These sites are often appreciated for their authenticity or novelty value as a contemporary ruin," said Karl Kullmann, who teaches landscape architecture, environmental planning and urban design at the University of California at Berkeley.

Ruin tourism draws visitors to such famously dilapidated landmarks as the Michigan Central Train Depot and the former Packard plant in Detroit. In White, Georgia, a crumbling repository of more than 4,000 discarded automobiles encased in trees and kudzu vines known as Old Car City USA draws paying crowds from around the world. In Hot Springs, Arkansas, cycling enthusiasts flock to a re-purposed landfill that features mountain bike trails known as "Tour-de-Trash."

"This type of tourism attracts people interested in the detritus of capitalism," said Rebecca Kinney, assistant professor in the Department of Popular Culture and School of Cultural and Critical Studies at Bowling Green State University.

The Detroit structures are "decades-old reminders of the precipitous rise and fall of industry," she said.

Read the full story here