Springfield part of $5B petroleum company settlement

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster visited Springfield this morning to announce a Queen City site is part of a $5.15 billion national environmental bankruptcy settlement.

Under the settlement with Anadarko Petroleum Corp., Missouri will receive roughly $43.9 million to clean up two contaminated sites, according to a news release.

The two sites, including 2800 W. High St. in Springfield - where Koster visited this morning - had been used for creosote wood treatment, which ultimately led to soil and groundwater contamination. The 64.5-acre site is owned by Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust LLC, the group dispersing the settlement funds, according to the Greene County assessor. The other site is in Kansas City.

The settlement involves Tronox, a company energy firm Kerr-McGee created to sell its chemical business to Anadarko. Tronox later filed for bankruptcy, alleging Kerr-McGee created Tronox to offload its environmental liabilities, according to the release.

“This case is the largest environmental bankruptcy settlement in U.S. history,” Koster said in the release. “Missouri’s share of the settlement will cover the cost of remediation at the former Kerr-McGee sites in our state and result in millions more for reclamation of other damaged sites for public use.”

In the 2009 bankruptcy proceedings, Missouri asserted a claim for funds from the former Tronox sites in Springfield and Kansas City.[[In-content Ad]]