After General Motors Company came out of bankruptcy, it was freed of any obligations to clean up polluted properties at discarded plants that will now require millions of dollars of clean up. GM’s quick bankruptcy allowed the new company to get rid of billion in liabilities, including claims that state governments had against the company for polluting.
An estimated $530 million in environmental liabilities were left with the old GM, which has only $1.2 billion in capital. Most of that money is expected to go administrative fees and other claims. State officials told the Free Press that they fear the cleanups at abandoned plants will be shortchanged.
In Flint, Michigan, cleaning up Buick City is expected to be a three-year process. In New York, officials are concerned about 12 GM sites including a 270-acre site along St. Lawrence River that possesses a “significant threat to human health.”
Other concerned states include Ohio, Delaware, Indiana and Colorado.
When asked to comment, the New GM said that the issue now belongs to Motors Liquidation Co., the Old GM – which declined to comment on the situation.
- By: Kap Shah
Source: Free Press
Photo Credit: Bob Krist/Corbis
