U.S., Shell Told to Pay Arsenal Cleanup Costs
A judge has ordered the U.S. government and Shell Oil Co. to pay the estimated $357 million to $1.9 billion in costs to clean up the Rocky Mountain Arsenal, the state attorney general’s office said Saturday.
The 27-square-mile arsenal, northeast of Denver, has been described as one of the most polluted pieces of real estate in the nation.
U.S. District Judge Jim R. Carrigan made the ruling late Friday in a lawsuit filed in December, 1983, by Colorado against the federal government and Shell, state Atty. Gen. Duane Woodard said.
The arsenal was contaminated during the 40 years of production of deadly chemical weapons and toxic commercial pesticides, several of which are now banned. Munitions and toxic chemical agents such as nerve gas also were defused there.
Shell had leased part of the arsenal to make insecticides, producing now-banned toxic substances such as aldrin and dieldrin.
Howard Kenison, a state deputy attorney general who oversees federal Superfund litigation in Colorado, said that the state’s suit sought money for damages to natural resources and recovery of legal fees and that either Shell or the federal government be held liable for the cleanup.
Rich Hansen, a Shell spokesman in Houston, said the firm and the government were near an agreement on how to divide the costs.
Start your day right
Sign up for Essential California for news, features and recommendations from the L.A. Times and beyond in your inbox six days a week.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times.
