Anadarko Petroleum Corp's agreement to pay $5.15 billion to clean up nuclear fuel and other pollution received approval from a federal judge on Monday, the final hurdle for the settlement touted by the U.S. Department of Justice as the largest-ever environmental cleanup recovery.
The agreement, reached in April, resolved a lawsuit against Anadarko and its Kerr-McGee unit from creditors of Tronox Inc, the paint materials maker that was once a unit of Kerr-McGee.
Opponents of the settlement could still appeal, but would face tough odds given its broad support among the parties in the case. Barring an appeal, money could be dispersed "within weeks," John Hueston, a lawyer for the Tronox creditors, said in an interview on Monday.
The lawsuit, which was joined by the U.S. Department of Justice, alleged Tronox's 2009 bankruptcy was caused by the environmental liabilities it took on when Kerr-McGee spun it off in 2005. It said the spinoff was a scheme by Kerr-McGee to get the liabilities off its books and make itself a more attractive takeover target for Anadarko, which acquired it in 2006.
The money will fund a wide array of projects across some 2,000 U.S. sites, including $1 billion for the Navajo Nation to address radioactive contamination from Kerr-McGee's old uranium mining operation.
The bankruptcy judge who oversaw Tronox's Chapter 11 case and presided over the trial, green-lighted the deal in May.
Manhattan federal Judge Katherine Forrest approved the deal on Monday over objections from a creditor group in Columbus, Mississippi, where Kerr-McGee operated a wood treatment plant. The group felt the settlement was too low.
"The court is sympathetic to the objectors, whose community is coping with the toxic legacy Kerr-McGee has left in its wake," Forrest wrote. "Nevertheless, the court must consider the broad interests of all the parties."
An attorney for the objectors did not return a call seeking comment on Monday.
Tronox emerged from bankruptcy in 2011.
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