More than 270 people who filed claims for damages stemming from the Hayden smelter will receive a $4.8 million unsecured claim under a settlement with Tucson-based copper producer Asarco LLC.
In all, the company reached settlements worth $27.8 million with people in three states who demanded more than $1 billion from the copper-mining company for personal-injury and property damages, according to court documents filed Wednesday.
Asarco has asked the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Corpus Christi, Texas, to approve the settlements.
The town of Hayden — about 70 miles north of Tucson — is still being proposed as a Superfund site by the Environmental Protection Agency because of potentially toxic levels of arsenic and lead in the soil and air.
Asarco has offered to conduct the cleanup instead of having the process overseen by the EPA, which would then bill the company.
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Gov. Janet Napolitano has given the EPA, Asarco and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality until March 31 to find a cleanup solution among themselves.
That environmental claim is just one against Asarco.
Some Hayden residents allege that the years of pollution from the copper smelter caused serious illness in the community. A class-action lawsuit was dismissed in 2003.
Asarco has been in bankruptcy since August 2005.
According to court documents, aside from the Hayden payout, Asarco has agreed to a $20.7 million unsecured claim to resolve 220 claims connected to its Tar Creek, Okla., operation and a $2.3 million unsecured claim to 51 people in El Paso, Texas.
Dow Jones Newswires contributed to this report.