Gov. Chris Christie spoke out against critics of his administration's lawsuit settlement with Exxon-Mobil.

It was recently announced that the state settled with the oil company for $225 million for damages to the Bayway refinery near Linden and Bayonne. The damages are estimated to cost billions of dollars.

At a town hall event in Somerville, the governor said critics of the settlement aren't telling the whole story.

"The Exxon settlement is a good settlement," he said. "The attorney general makes these decisions so I can't take credit for the good decision either, because the [attorney general] makes these decisions and I don't interfere with [him]."

Gov. Christie went on to say Exxon-Mobil is "going to have to clean everything up, no matter what it costs. We get $225 million on top of it because they were bad enough to have done it in the first place."

State Democrats oppose the settlement and say the governor let the company off the hook for polluting parts of New Jersey.

A judge must still approve the settlement before the case is closed.