$27.8M Asarco settlements include El Paso's $2.3 MBy: January 25, 2008 -- More than 270 people who filed claims for damages caused by the Hayden smelter will receive a $4.8 million unsecured claim under a settlement with Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC. It was one of three settlements, worth $27.8 million, the company reached with people in three states who originally demanded more than $1 billion from the copper-mining company for personal-injury and property damages, according to court documents filed Wednesday. Asarco has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, to approve the settlements. They would then become part of an eventual exit plan from the bankruptcy, though they are not guaranteed to be paid in full, said Doug McAllister, Asarco's executive vice president and general counsel. The town of Hayden — about 70 miles north of Tucson — is still being proposed as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency because of potentially toxic levels of arsenic and lead in the soil and air. Asarco has offered to conduct the cleanup instead of having the process overseen by the EPA, which would then bill the company. Gov. Janet Napolitano has given the EPA, Asarco and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality until March 31 to find a cleanup solution among themselves. According to court documents, aside from the Hayden payout, Asarco has agreed to a $20.7 million unsecured claim to resolve 220 claims connected to its Tar Creek operation in Oklahoma and a $2.3 million unsecured claim to 51 people in Texas at El Paso. Related Links |
|
||||||||||||||
| info@gettheleadout.net | Disclaimer | |||||||||||||||
| Help Get the Lead Out - Home Owners - News Room - Good Science Calendar of Events - Resources - Photo Gallery |
|||||||||||||||