EPA Case Summary: “On December 12, 2013, the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York decided against Kerr-McGee Corporation (“Kerr-McGee”) and related companies that are subsidiaries of Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (“Anadarko”) in a fraudulent conveyance case and determined that the defendants “acted to free substantially all [their] assets – certainly [their] most valuable assets – from 85 years of environmental and tort liabilities.” The Court awarded damages between approximately $5.2 billion and $14.2 billion to the plaintiffs which, even at the low end of the damages range, is the largest amount ever awarded in a bankruptcy proceeding for governmental environmental claims and liabilities. Approximately $4.5 billion to $12.4 billion will go toward cleanup at contaminated sites across the country. As referenced in the USAO-SDNY press release, some of the key environmental recoveries for environmental liabilities and for cleanup of environmental sites are estimated to be the following based on the Court’s decision…”