Eastman Kodak To Pay For Cleanup

Eastman Kodak would pay tens of millions of dollars to fund hazardous waste cleanups under two proposed deals with the federal government announced earlier this month. Under the first proposal, Kodak would fund a trust for $49 million for cleanup at Eastman Business Park, which is a 1,200-acre industrial complex in Rochester, N.Y., and at the Genesee River adjacent to the site. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation would fund up to $50 million more in cleanup work once that trust is exhausted. Kodak and the state agency would evenly split costs that go above $99 million. In addition, Kodak would pay more than $4 million for damage to natural resources in the Genesee River. Under the second proposal, Kodak would pay nearly $3 million to help clean up two Superfund sites, one in Fair Lawn, N.J., and the other on the border between the New York towns of Colonie and Guilderland. Kodak filed to reorganize under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2012. The proposed settlements are part of those bankruptcy proceedings.