IBJNews

State getting $25M to clean up old GM sites

Back to TopCommentsE-mailPrint

Indiana will benefit from a $25.2 million environmental trust established to clean up and redevelop eight former General Motors plants throughout the state, officials said Wednesday.

The fund is part of a $773 million deal the Obama administration struck to remediate dozens of such sites in 14 states. It is the largest trust of its kind in U.S. history.

The money will target automotive sites containing hazardous waste that were left shuttered by the auto giant's bankruptcy last year. About half of the 89 sites covered by the trust are in Michigan and others are in New York and Ohio. The Indiana sites targeted for clean-up include the GM metal-stamping plant in Indianapolis set to close next year. Other locations are in Kokomo, Muncie and Anderson.

"The old General Motors provided manufacturing jobs in Indiana for generations, and we can only hope that the emergence of the New GM from bankruptcy will mark a return to stability for one of the nation's great automakers," Attorney General Greg Zoeller said in a statement. "In the meantime, cleaning up industrial pollution that would be an obstacle to redevelopment ... is an appropriate resolution to a complicated bankruptcy."

Representatives of Zoeller's office and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management collaborated with federal officials on the settlement deal.

The trust fund, which was proposed in May, was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in New York and is expected to receive final approval next year. The deal involves the government, Motors Liquidation Co., which represents former GM assets that were not placed in the new auto company, 14 states and the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe in New York.

"This trust — the largest environmental trust in our history — provides support for aggressive environmental cleanups at these sites, which will create jobs today and benefit the environment and human health over the long term," said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.

General Motors received $50 billion in government aid to get through its bankruptcy. GM is 61 percent owned by U.S. taxpayers and planning an initial public offering that will allow the government to begin reducing its stake.

Vacant properties, facilities and offices left barren by GM's bankruptcy will be razed or rehabilitated under the plan. The funds will come from more than $1 billion provided by the Treasury Department to wind down the "bad" assets of General Motors set aside in the bankruptcy.

The plan includes $431 million for states to clean up former GM properties and $262 million for administrative costs — which can be used to market the sites for future redevelopment.

Michigan will receive the largest share, at $158.7 million, followed by New York ($153.8 million), Ohio ($39.4 million) and Indiana ($25.2 million). The other states participating in the settlement include: Delaware, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

The funding will be overseen by Elliot Laws, a former EPA assistant administrator for solid waste and emergency response during the Clinton administration.
 

ADVERTISEMENT

Post a comment to this story

COMMENTS POLICY
We reserve the right to remove any post that we feel is obscene, profane, vulgar, racist, sexually explicit, abusive, or hateful.
 
You are legally responsible for what you post and your anonymity is not guaranteed.
 
Posts that insult, defame, threaten, harass or abuse other readers or people mentioned in IBJ editorial content are also subject to removal. Please respect the privacy of individuals and refrain from posting personal information.
 
No solicitations, spamming or advertisements are allowed. Readers may post links to other informational websites that are relevant to the topic at hand, but please do not link to objectionable material.
 
We may remove messages that are unrelated to the topic, encourage illegal activity, use all capital letters or are unreadable.
 

Messages that are flagged by readers as objectionable will be reviewed and may or may not be removed. Please do not flag a post simply because you disagree with it.

Sponsored by
ADVERTISEMENT

facebook - twitter on Facebook & Twitter

Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ on Facebook:
Follow on TwitterFollow IBJ's Tweets on these topics:
 
Subscribe to IBJ
  1. "And the success of the Indiana GOP to not allow an expansion of Medicaid had nothing to do with Indiana hospitals' financial woes? Fixed that for you; editorial bias rebalanced. Seriously, there are so many things wrong with Obamacare that the only way one can view it as a success is to assume that it was designed to fail our way into a government single payor healthcare system. The system is complex, creates huge regulatory burdens and overhead and yet still does not have adequate means to control escalating health care costs. But then when you elect a 10th grade math drop out with no quantitative reasoning skills to be President of one of the world's most important economies in troubled times, you can't really be surprised by blatant stupidity.

  2. No NIMBYs here to chase off a decent development. We don't need tons of parking and we'd happily play the role of host to a downtown Whole Foods.

  3. Whatever you do, don't change a single thing about Broad Ripple. I want it to look just like it did in the late '70s, with 30% of the north side of Broad Ripple Avenue burned out and plenty of places to park. That's right Broad Ripple, NEVER CHANGE. Let the world pass you by, don't improve your empty, abandoned lots full of weeds. Someday someone will want to film a zombie movie here.

  4. Hollywood could step in and make a movie about the history about this forlorn series. It could be a full celebrity cast of characters. WOW. http://www.advanceindiana.blogspot.com/2013/02/indiana-taxpayers-forced-to-pay-for.html

  5. This shouldn't come as a shock to many. Austin is a great city, and Indy needs to take some notes. Austin invests in decent transit options, has a highly educated workforce, embraces a creative class, and --despite being the state capital-- is not micromanaged by rural and suburban legislators. Want Indy to grow? Invest in the city (i.e. spend money). Raise taxes a bit, and use the money to improve education. And keep the state legislature out of Indy the other 9 months of the year.

ADVERTISEMENT