Early 2023, the non-profit Save Barnegat Bay is requested to evaluate a voluntary settlement agreement between the world’s largest chemical company, BASF, and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection. On the surface, the proposal appears beneficial, however, as experts and individuals descend upon the details it becomes clear that a grave injustice is being hatched against the ecosystem in Ocean County and the residents who live and work within its environs.

A grievance implemented not only by a company looking to move a liability off its books, but by the government agency whose singular purpose is to protect the natural resources of the state. This story spans seven decades. Nearly a full century of corporate malfeasance, greenwashing, and lack of government oversight, while a county bears the brunt of it all. The corruption, the cancer, the contamination, nothing will stop the community from procuring a better outcome. Here we go again.