According to an Associated Press article, W.R. Grace and Company is attempting to clean up their act - and their environmental record - by selling 10 contaminated plots of land and its liabilities for their contamination for nearly $4.4 million.

The company was asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Delaware to allow them to sell the properties in question so that they may be cleaned up and so that Grace can save some money. The company filed bankruptcy more than five years ago, faced with thousands of lawsuits by individuals who developed asbestos-related diseases caused by Grace-manufactured insulation products.

“This court’s approval of the agreement will eliminate over $12.5 million in environmental liabilities of the debtors in perpetuity and transfer ownership of the properties,” Grace said in court documents filed last Friday.

The company has a potential deal with Environmental Liability Transfer, Inc. and its parent company, Commercial Development Corporation, to buy the property. They have offered to pay Grace $2.5 million for the properties, plus 40 percent of the proceeds it will bring in from selling the land, for a total of about $4.36 million, a company spokesperson explained.

Grace said the agreement “cost-effectively resolves significant environmental liabilities” and allows the company to avoid any additional liabilities that may arise in the future. The company’s lawyers have told the court that not approving the request would be a major mistake.

“Any result other than this agreement would not comprehensively resolve the debtors’ liabilities, would likely be more costly and not as efficient, and would take several months if not years to negotiate,” Grace said.

The unused industrial properties, which vary in size from 5 to 180 acres, are located throughout Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Puerto Rico, South Carolina and Tennessee, the article points out. Grace said they have varying degrees of environmental contamination.

W.R. Grace and Company, based in Columbia, Md., is currently in the midst of a trial in a Delaware court to determine how much the company owes its asbestos creditors.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, February 26th, 2008 at 11:44 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.