Insilco liquidation plan gets objections from New York State, IRS

By Jeff Pines

Washington, April 19 - Insilco Technologies, Inc.'s liquidation plan received objections from New York State's Department of Environmental Conservation and the IRS.

In an April 19 filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, the department said Insilco owes it more than $4 million as a claim related to cleaning up a site the Dublin, Ohio-based company is responsible for. Even though, Insilco no longer owns the hazardous waste site in Mount Vernon, N.Y., state law requires the company to investigate and clean up any messes it made.

The company received administrative orders to clean up the site in 1993 and then in 1997. Insilco failed to comply with state law, it said.

As a result, polyurethane and other hazardous substances are continuously discharging into the Bronx River, the department said.

It cited a U.S. Supreme Court decision Midlantic Nat'l Bank v. N.J. Dep't. of Envtl. Protection 474 US 494 (1986) that a bankrupt company, or its trustee, may not continue to "pollute the waters of a state, or refuse to remove the source of such conditions."

The pollution is "currently causing an imminent and substantial threat to public health and safety," the department said.

The IRS objects to the plan because it said the company owes it nearly $1 million in back taxes, which the plan does not call for repaying in full at an adequate interest rate.

An April 28 hearing is scheduled.

Insilco's Chapter 11 case number is 02-13672.

© 2015 Prospect News.
All content on this website is protected by copyright law in the U.S. and elsewhere. For the use of the person downloading only.
Redistribution and copying are prohibited by law without written permission in advance from Prospect News.
Redistribution or copying includes e-mailing, printing multiple copies or any other form of reproduction.