It won’t be Boeing coughing up the millions to pay for pollution cleanup at one of its old aircraft plants in Wichita, Kansas. Instead, the U.S. government has agreed to pay Boeing $32.2 million in settlement of a lawsuit filed by Boeing as it sought to recover costs for the pollution when the government owned the site.
The settlement in the form of a joint consent decree was filed recently in U.S. District Court in Kansas. It covers the past and future costs for cleaning up the soil and groundwater contamination at the facility.
For nearly two years, Boeing and the U.S. government were in negotiations over who was really responsible for the pollution and its cleanup. Boeing argued the government should pay because the U.S. owned the plant and controlled military aircraft production and waste handling through regulations, requirements, inspections and military specifications.
Boeing also has extensive operations in Oklahoma at Tinker Air Force Base.
