Perchlorate Remediation

Tronox Inc. will get $20.5 million from the federal government to help pay for cleanup of perchlorate contamination at a plant near Las Vegas, the company announced this week. Tronox, the titanium dioxide business of Kerr-McGee, had sought a federal contribution to the cleanup through a lawsuit.

The government settled by paying cash, as well as 21% of future response costs that Tronox may incur after Jan. 1, 2011.The company explained that it has an insurance policy that will cover up to $100 million in eligible cleanup costs through the end of 2010.

Tronox said it already has spent about $122 million to clean up perchlorate contamination. The chemical has migrated via groundwater from the plant site into a tributary of the lower Colorado River. The river supplies drinking water to Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Tucson.

The U.S. Navy owned the perchlorate production facility in Henderson, Nev., from about 1952 to 1961. In 1962, the plant was sold to American Potash & Chemical Co., which was purchased by Kerr-McGee in 1967. The plant stopped producing perchlorate, a component of rocket fuel, in 1998.