Honeywell agrees to clean up New York lake

October 12, 2006
Thu Oct 12, 2006
By Scott Malone
Rueters

BOSTON, Oct 12 (Reuters) - Diversified manufacturer Honeywell International Inc. has agreed to a $451 million cleanup of pollution in Onondaga Lake in upstate New York, New York state Gov. George Pataki said on Thursday.

Honeywell confirmed that a settlement had been reached and said it was in line with its previous estimates. A company spokeswoman declined to say what the cost was.

In its most recent quarterly filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Honeywell said the government's estimate of the cleanup's cost was based on the "high end of the range of potential costs" and "is higher than the amount reserved."

From 1917 to 1986, Allied-Signal, a predecessor of Morris Township, New Jersey-based Honeywell, operated a plant near the lake that emitted mercury, solvents, calcium and other pollutants into streams and soil, Pataki said.

The lake is near Syracuse, about 250 miles (402 km) northwest of New York.

Pataki said the agreement calls for Honeywell to dredge some 2.65 million cubic yards of sediment and cap about 579 acres of the lake's bottom over a nine-year period.

"Although there is still work to be done, this agreement is an important step that secures a legal commitment to implement this critical cleanup project," said Pataki, a 2008 Republican presidential hopeful.

Honeywell, which makes products ranging from airplane electronics to antifreeze, is expected to have revenue of $30.94 billion this year, according to Reuters Estimates. Its shares were off 10 cents to $42 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange.

Pataki said the cleanup would be one of the largest in the state's history. Last year, diversified conglomerate General Electric Co. agreed to pay $111 million to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to help pay the cost of dredging toxic waste from New York's Hudson River. The government said GE released waste into the river for about 30 years.