BURBANK : Lockheed Raises Cost of Environmental Cleanup

Lockheed Corp. has raised its cost estimate for environmental cleanup in Burbank to $263 million and has reaffirmed its intention to recover most of the money from taxpayers through charges in its government contracts.

The new figure, included in Lockheed’s annual report for 1992, is $44 million above a $219-million estimate last year by the federal General Accounting Office, which relied on Lockheed data.

In the annual report, Lockheed said the $263 million includes an estimated $139 million for the Superfund cleanup of Burbank ground water supplies that have been polluted by chemical solvents. Citing “existing government regulations” and “an agreement with the U.S. government,” Lockheed told stockholders that the costs of soil and ground water cleanup will be proportionally recovered from its customers, of which the U.S. government is the largest.