Mining Giant Pays $1.79 Billion to Clean Up Sites
In what the Department of Justice is touting as the largest environmental bankruptcy in U.S. history, mining giant Asarco has paid $1.79 billion to fund environmental cleanup efforts at more than 80 sites in 19 states. The Tucson, Ariz.-based company filed for bankruptcy protection in 2005 amid a strike and the prospect of massive asbestos and environmental claims. Last month, a Texas federal judge approved a more than $2 billion plan by Grupo Mexico to retake control of Asarco.
