Anadarko Petroleum Corp.'s agreement to pay $5.15 billion to clean up nuclear fuel and other pollution moved one step closer to reality yesterday after receiving a bankruptcy judge's approval, Reuters reported yesterday. The agreement reached in April, touted by the U.S. Department of Justice as the largest-ever environmental cleanup recovery, resolved a lawsuit against Anadarko and its Kerr-McGee unit from creditors of Tronox Inc., the paint materials maker that was once a subsidiary of Kerr-McGee. The lawsuit, which was joined by the DOJ, alleged that Tronox's 2009 bankruptcy was caused by the environmental liabilities it took on when Kerr-McGee spun it off in 2005. It said that 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.
