"An Arizona mining company has asked a federal court to void a $220 million settlement with the Environmental Protection Agency, saying it found the Justice Department was conducting an criminal investigation of the agency over the case."

"Asarco, a unit of Grupo Mexico, has long accused the EPA of concealing records that would clear the company from claims it polluted thousands of properties with lead near Omaha, Nebraska, where it operated a smelter for more than 50 years. Asarco says that lead paint from houses caused the pollution, not the plant.

The company filed a motion this week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas asking the court to nullify the settlement, which was reached late in the last decade. The motion says the EPA's Robert Feild, who coordinated a project looking into the Nebraska sites, destroyed agency records and advised others to do so.

Asarco exited bankruptcy in 2009, four years after it sought bankruptcy protection."

Timothy Gardner reports for Reuters June 20, 2012. [2]