After 20 years, a bitter battle over a now-defunct construction and demolition business is nearing an end.

The New Jersey entrepreneurs who founded American Fuel Harvesters in 1988, have agreed to pay the state Department of Environmental Protection $125,000 toward what became a $3.35 million cleanup project.

The final 60-day public comment period ended last month over the agreement, which was reached at the end of last year.

American Fuel Harvesters was to recycle the heaps of masonry, wood and steel dumped daily into the pit, which quickly became overwhelmed. The mountains of debris caused underground fires and the release of toxic gases.

The DEP began a nine-month cleanup in 1998 that cost $3.35 million.