Navajo Nation Attorney General Harrison Tsosie this week that the Nation has prevailed in its claims against Anadarko Petroleum Corporation and Kerr-McGee Corporation involving a number of former uranium mines and one former Kerr-McGee uranium processing site. These sites were located in Cove, Ariz. and Shiprock, N.M.
A decision released December 12 from the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York stated Judge Allan L. Gropper found that the defendants Anadarko and Kerr-McGee acted to “hinder and delay” certain creditors, including the Navajo Nation, when Kerr-McGee “transferred out and then spun off” oil and gas assets, leaving the spin off companies “insolvent and undercapitalized.”
The Navajo Nation is one of a number of claimants in the case. Other claimants include the U.S., 22 states, four environmental response trusts and a trust for the benefit of certain tort plaintiffs.
Prior to the trial this group of environmental and tort claimants reached an agreement on how they would allocate any recovery in the lawsuit.
While the proceeds distribution formula is rather complicated, Tsosie noted that 88 percent of all proceeds go to the group of environmental creditors, including the Navajo Nation. The remaining 12 percent will go to private tort creditors and for administrative expenses. Of the 88 percent distributed to environmental creditors, 23 percent will be available for use in cleaning up former Kerr-McGee abandoned uranium mines located on the Navajo Nation and the former Shiprock Mill site.
Judge Gropper’s decision finds that Anadarko and Kerr-McGee are liable to the plaintiffs for damages, setting a range for such damages between $5.1 and $14.1 billion. The exact amount of damages will be determined after briefing by the parties.
Tsosie stated, “While we recognize the uncertainties of the appeal process and the long road that may be ahead of us, this is still a day of celebration for the Navajo Nation. A federal judge has issued a ruling that could result in over a billion dollars being made available for cleaning up some of the uranium contamination from past uranium mining and processing on the Navajo Nation.”