Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Liability shifting (spin-offs, bankruptcy, closure bonds) · United States · 2014–2015

Kerr-McGee / Anadarko fraudulent transfer settlement

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 1 insufficient · 1 not measured See the gaps

A US court found that the separation of Tronox from Kerr-McGee was a fraudulent transfer. Anadarko Petroleum, whose subsidiaries were the defendants, paid USD 5.15 billion in a settlement, USD 4.4 billion of it for cleanup and environmental claims.

USD 5.15 billionSettlement of litigation against subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum
USD 4.4 billion of it for cleanup and environmental claims. Payment date 23 January 2015.

Status As of the latest record: the settlement of USD 5.15 billion was paid on 23 January 2015; no further proceedings found.

What?
A court found the separation of Tronox from Kerr-McGee to be a fraudulent transfer. Anadarko paid USD 5.15 billion in settlement of litigation against its subsidiaries, about USD 4.4 billion of it for cleanup and environmental claims. EPOnline
Where?
United States. EPOnline
When?
2014 to 2015; payment on 23 January 2015. EPOnline
Who?
Gained
None on record
Lost
  • Anadarko Petroleum — Paid USD 5.15 billion in the settlement EPOnline
Harmed
None on record
Why?
The court treated the separation of Tronox as a transfer of assets out of the reach of creditors. EPOnline
How?
The claim was brought under the fraudulent-transfer rule of bankruptcy law, pursued by a trust, and the US Department of Justice announced the USD 5.15 billion settlement of the litigation. US Department of Justice
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

A US court found that the separation of Tronox from Kerr-McGee was a fraudulent transfer, that is, a transfer of assets out of the reach of creditors. The litigation was brought against subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum. A trust pursued the case, and the US Department of Justice announced the settlement.

Anadarko paid USD 5.15 billion in the settlement, of which about USD 4.4 billion was for cleanup and environmental claims. The payment was made on 23 January 2015. The research record covers the period 2014 to 2015.

  1. 2014A court finds the Tronox separation to be a fraudulent transfer; the US Department of Justice announces a USD 5.15 billion settlement of the litigation against subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum.
  2. 2015Anadarko pays the USD 5.15 billion settlement (23 January); about USD 4.4 billion is for cleanup and environmental claims.

How it looked

What was shown, beside what was recorded.

Shown

  • The settlement was described as the largest environmental payment in history; the research record traces this characterisation to the Department of Justice's own statements.
    US Department of Justice (as characterised in the sources reviewed) · US Department of Justice

Recorded

  • The court found the Tronox separation to be a fraudulent transfer.
    EPOnline
  • Anadarko paid USD 5.15 billion, about USD 4.4 billion of it for cleanup and environmental claims.
    EPOnline
  • The payment date was 23 January 2015.
    EPOnline

Who gained

Money that reached nature, beside money that stayed elsewhere.

Reached nature or the ground

≈ $4.4bn
Share of the USD 5.15 billion settlement allocated to cleanup and environmental claims.
Settlement share for cleanup and environmental claims≈ $4.4bn

Gained elsewhere

Not totalled
Reached the ground
≈ $4.4bn
Currency: USD · Window: 2014–2015. All figures cover the same period. * Estimate built from cited figures.

In court and with insurers

Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

Lawsuits and rulings

  1. 2014Settled$5.15bn Settlement, USD million
    Litigation against subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum over the Tronox separation
    US court (not named) · Civil · United States, with a trust pursuing the claims → Subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum

    The court found the Tronox separation to be a fraudulent transfer. The litigation was settled for USD 5.15 billion, about USD 4.4 billion of it for cleanup and environmental claims, paid on 23 January 2015. EPOnline

Insurers

No insurer decision on record.

What nature saw

Outcomes measured on the ground, and nature's note.

Nature's report opens this page. Below: further outcomes measured on the ground.

Settlement for cleanup and environmental claims
USD 4.4bn
Of a USD 5.15bn settlement, paid 23 January 2015
Court finding
Fraudulent transfer
The court treated the Tronox separation as a transfer of assets out of creditors' reach

What we don't know

Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Court ruling exists

Nature

  • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

Record

  • Insufficient Reported but not independently verified: the settlement is described as about 36% of the liability at issue; the basis of that figure is not given.

Did the harm stop?

The research record does not describe the contamination at issue or whether it has stopped. It states that USD 4.4 billion of the settlement was for cleanup and environmental claims.

Who paid?

Anadarko Petroleum paid the USD 5.15 billion settlement on 23 January 2015.

Sources

Voices on record: — Company or project✓ Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society— Researchers

Government and regulators

Press and investigations

Connected cases

Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
Terms used on this page

Bonds and banking

Liquidation, insolvency, bankruptcy
Legal processes that apply when a company cannot pay its debts; its assets are sold and claims against it may go unpaid.
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