Tronox Settlement Update: Tort Trust, Cleanup Trusts, Securities

The Tronox settlement is a $5.15 billion resolution reached in 2014 and funded in January 2015, under which Anadarko Petroleum paid for environmental cleanup at hundreds of former Kerr-McGee sites and compensation for personal-injury victims. As of 2026, the tort claims trust is winding down and no longer accepting new claims after a final February 11, 2026 deadline, while five environmental response trusts continue active remediation work across the country.¹

What the Tronox Settlement Covers

Kerr-McGee Corporation spent decades operating uranium mines, thorium processing plants, creosote wood-treatment facilities, and perchlorate manufacturing operations at more than 2,700 sites in 47 states. Between 2002 and 2005, the company separated its valuable oil and gas business from those legacy liabilities, left the contamination and tort obligations in a shell renamed Tronox, and spun it off in 2006. Anadarko then acquired the cleaned-up Kerr-McGee for $18 billion. Tronox, insolvent, filed for bankruptcy in January 2009.²

The United States intervened and sued for fraudulent conveyance. After a 34-day trial, the bankruptcy court ruled in December 2013 that Kerr-McGee had acted with intent to hinder creditors, and it assessed damages between $5.1 billion and $14.1 billion. Anadarko agreed to the $5.15 billion settlement rather than appeal.³

The money was split along a fixed ratio: 88% (more than $4.4 billion) for environmental cleanup through federal and state agencies, the Navajo Nation, and four environmental response trusts; and 12% (more than $600 million) for a tort claims trust compensating people with personal-injury claims.⁴

Tort Claims Trust: Deadlines and Payment Status

The Tronox Tort Claims Trust, administered by Epiq, sorted claims into four categories. The two that matter for most individual claimants are Category D (non-asbestos toxic exposure claims filed before the August 12, 2009 bankruptcy bar date, allocated at least 81.25% of trust assets) and Category A (asbestos claims plus any “future tort claims” for injuries identified after that bar date, allocated 6.25%).⁵

Category D (Pre-2009 Claims)

Category D claimants have received distributions of roughly 35% of their allowed claim amounts. The trust’s Fourth Allocation of Category D payments began in late 2023 and continued into 2025. Individual payment timing depends on the claimant returning a signed release and resolving any Medicare or Medicaid lien obligations.⁶

Category A (Future Tort Claims) — Final Deadline Has Passed

Category A received far more claims than projected. The trust logged more than 40,000 future tort claims, and by the end of 2019 only about $20.7 million remained for the entire category.⁵

On November 13, 2025, a Notice of Trust Termination was filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Under that notice, all remaining future tort claims had to be filed within 90 days. The final deadline was February 11, 2026, and the trust is no longer accepting new claims.⁶

As of November 2025, the trust had completed review of 95% of the more than 40,000 future tort claims, with about 1,100 still in process.⁷ Processing of all Category A claims is expected to finish in late 2026. Payments are not projected to begin until 2027, and that timing depends on the bankruptcy court ruling on pending motions from claimants whose claims were denied. The court has previously ruled on 4,676 such motions in March 2021 and 260 motions in August 2024, with others still outstanding.⁶

What Claimants Will Actually Receive

Approved Category A claimants are currently projected to receive less than 0.5% of their scheduled award value. That figure could fall further if the final claim count remains high.⁶ Category D claimants fare substantially better because of the much larger allocation to that category, with distributions near 35% of allowed claim amounts.⁵

Environmental Cleanup Trusts: Where Things Stand

The environmental share of the settlement funded five Environmental Response Trusts along with payments to the EPA and state agencies. Active investigation and remediation work began once Anadarko’s payment arrived in 2015 and 2016.⁸

Multistate Trust

The Multistate Environmental Response Trust received roughly $1.25 billion and covers 31 states, four federal Superfund sites, six RCRA facilities, and more than 2,600 legacy service station and other sites. Greenfield Environmental Multistate Trust LLC serves as the court-appointed trustee.⁹

Henderson, Nevada

Over $1.1 billion went to cleanup of perchlorate contamination at the former Kerr-McGee chemical manufacturing site that threatened Lake Mead and the Colorado River.¹⁰ Groundwater treatment has removed about 13.3 million pounds of perchlorate since 1987, and levels entering the Las Vegas Wash are down more than 90% from 2000.¹¹ The Nevada Department of Environmental Protection approved a Feasibility Study Work Plan in October 2023, and additional shallow-soil investigation is planned for 2026.¹²

Navajo Nation Uranium Mines

Nearly $1 billion was allocated for cleanup of about 50 abandoned uranium mines on or near the Navajo Nation, with over $40 million going directly to the Navajo Nation for the Shiprock, New Mexico uranium mill.¹³ In March 2024, the EPA added the Lukachukai Mountains Mining District to the Superfund National Priorities List, the first Navajo Nation site to receive that designation. Cleanup of the Mesa V Mine Complex began in November 2025, a $13 million project to relocate 13,000 cubic yards of mine waste. That project covers three of 88 identified mine sites in the Lukachukai district.¹⁴

West Chicago, Illinois

The West Chicago Environmental Response Trust covers the former 43-acre Rare Earths Facility and contamination in Kress Creek and the west branch of the DuPage River. Soil remediation finished in 2015, more than 60,000 cubic yards of radiologically contaminated material has been shipped off-site, and ecological restoration of the creek and river is complete.¹⁵ Remaining work targets shallow groundwater contamination, with $36 million in federal funds designated for that phase. The land is expected to be conveyed to the City of West Chicago for use as a public park.¹⁶

A Separate Matter: The Tronox Holdings Securities Case

A securities fraud class action filed in September 2025 against the current Tronox Holdings Plc (NYSE: TROX) is a different case, with a different set of claimants, and has no connection to the environmental or personal-injury trusts. Tronox Holdings is a titanium dioxide manufacturer that emerged from the original bankruptcy, and the case, Keller v. Tronox Holdings Plc (Case No. 3:25-cv-01441), is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut.¹⁷

Investors allege the company and two senior executives misled the market in the first half of 2025 about demand in its pigment and zircon businesses. On July 30, 2025, Tronox reported a steep decline in TiO2 sales, cut its full-year revenue guidance, and reduced its dividend by 60%. The stock fell about 38% in a single day, from $5.14 to $3.19 per share. On January 22, 2026, the court appointed a lead plaintiff and lead counsel. An amended complaint was filed on April 7, 2026, and the defendants filed a motion to dismiss on June 8, 2026, with briefing scheduled through September 2026. The case is in its early stages, and no substantive rulings on the merits have issued.¹⁸

1
U.S. DOJ. Historic $5.15 Billion Environmental and Tort Settlement With Anadarko Petroleum Corp Goes Into Effect
2
U.S. EPA. Case Summary: Settlement Agreement in Anadarko Fraud Case Results in Billions for Environmental Cleanup
3
U.S. DOJ. Bankruptcy Court Awards Between $5.1 Billion and $14.1 Billion Against Subsidiaries
4
U.S. DOJ. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Announces Historic $5.15 Billion Environmental and Tort Settlement
5
FindLaw. In Re Tronox Inc.
6
Tronox Tort Trust. Tronox, Inc. Tort Claims Trust
7
Tronox Tort Trust. Order Specifying Means of Notice
8
Multistate Environmental Response Trust. About the Multistate Trust
9
Greenfield Environmental. Multistate TrustAbout the Multistate Trust
10
U.S. DOJ. Tronox Settlement Announcement
11
NERT Trust. NERT Remediation Updates
12
Nevada DEP. Nevada Environmental Response Trust
13
U.S. DOJ. United States Announces $5.15 Billion Settlement
14
Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President. EPA Advances Uranium Cleanup in Lukachukai
15
Weston Solutions. West Chicago Environmental Response Trust
16
City of West Chicago. Kerr-McGee Cleanup to Conclude
17
Court Listener. Keller v. Tronox Holdings PLC Docket
18
PACER Monitor. Keller v. Tronox Holdings PLC et al