(February 23, 2016, 1:58 PM EST) -- NEW YORK — A federal judge in New York on Feb. 19 approved a $1.7 million settlement between the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) and Duke Energy Merchants LLC (DEM), one of the defendants in a lawsuit seeking damages for groundwater contamination from methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE) (In Re: Methyl Tertiary Butyl Ether Products Liability Litigation, No. 00-1898, MDL 1358, New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection v. Atlantic Richfield Company, No. 08-0312, S.D. N.Y.; 2016 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 21263)....