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 (DOJ) as the largest-ever environmental cleanup recovery, Reuters reported yesterday. 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. The lawsuit, which was joined by the DOJ, alleged that Tronox's 2009 bankruptcy was caused by the environmental liabilities that it took on when Kerr-McGee spun it off in 2005. The bankruptcy judge who oversaw Tronox's chapter 11 case and presided over the trial green-lighted the deal in May. Tronox emerged from bankruptcy in 2011.
