Ford Receives $6.6 Million for Their Rogue Facility Cleanup

After a seven-year long legal battle between the federal government and the Ford Motor Company, there is good news coming out of Detroit this week. According to Left Lane News, Ford will finally be getting more than $6 million to help them clean up their Rouge Manufacturing facility in the Detroit area.

Ford proposed a cleanup plan for their Rouge Manufacturing complex in Dearborn, Michigan years ago. Used for a number of things by the automotive company, from glass to power productions, Ford felt that the national government should contribute some money to the cleanup. As it turns out, the Rouge facility was relied on heavily by the government during both world wars to produce boats, engines and tanks for military use, contributing greatly to the industrial waste that still remains at the complex.

In a lawsuit filed by Ford in the U.S. District Court back in 2004, the automotive company set out to have the government held liable for their part of the cleanup expenses. Earlier this week, after Ford’s seven long years of fighting, U.S. District Judge Bernard A. Friedman approved a deal giving the company $6.6 million of federal money for their cleanup operation.

That $6.6 million is part of the $10.8 million the government pledged back in August to help clean up two cites at the Rouge facility. Unfortunately, Friedman did not approve the remaining $4.25 million initially pledged to help in the cleanup of the adjacent Schafer Road Area. That money will have to wait for approval from U.S. District Judge Robert Cleland who is currently overseeing a case between Ford and Severstal Dearborn, LLC. who purchased the Ford steel-making operations on the cite in 2004.

While the already awarded $6.6 million and potential to get $4.25 million more from the government is good news for Ford, the company still has a lot of work to do and a lot of company money to put into the cleanup. Ford has estimated the cleanup operation to cost about $99 million, which they plan on splitting with the Severstal Dearborn company.