Asarco asks for OK of $18.78 million settlement with government environmental agencies

By Reshmi Basu

New York, Dec. 4 - Asarco LLC asked for court approval of an $18.78 million settlement agreement with various government agencies to resolve a conflict over cleanup costs associated with a superfund site in Montana, according to a Tuesday filing with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas.

According to the motion, the Environmental Protection Agency, the state of Montana and private entity Atlantic Richfield Co. filed claims against the company for the cleanup of a site in the area of Silver Bow Creek.

Montana Resources Inc., a state agency, handled the claims for the state as well as Richfield.

Under the settlement, Montana Resources will have an $8.67 million allowed general unsecured claim for future remediation purposes, a $5.26 million claim for past costs and a $4.85 million claim for natural resource damages.

The agreement is subject to approval by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court and the state of Montana.

Asarco, a Tucson, Ariz., mining company, filed for bankruptcy on Aug. 9, 2005. Its Chapter 11 case number is 05-21207.

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