 | |
| Company type | Trust |
|---|---|
| Industry | Environmental remediation and real estate |
| Predecessor | Motors Liquidation Company |
| Founded | March 31, 2011 |
| Headquarters | Detroit, Michigan , United States |
Key people | Elliott P. Laws (Trustee) |
| Website | racertrust |
The RACER Trust (Revitalizing Auto Communities Environmental Response Trust) was created in March 2011 by a consent decree in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York to clean up and position for redevelopment certain real properties owned by the former General Motors Corporation (“GMC”) and various GMC affiliates at the time of GMC's bankruptcy in 2009.[1]
Through its bankruptcy proceeding, GMC became known as Motors Liquidation Company ("MLC") and has since been effectively dissolved. Before its dissolution, MLC was carved into five separate trusts; the first to settle the claims of unsecured creditors (General Unsecured Creditors Trust); the second (RACER) to manage, perform environmental activities at, and ultimately dispose of certain remaining MLC real and personal property assets; the third to manage asbestos-related claims (Asbestos Personal Injury Trust); the fourth for litigation claims (Action Avoidance Trust); and the fifth for general unresolved GMC matters (MLC Debtor In Possession Lenders Trust).[2]
At its inception, RACER's portfolio included properties at 89 locations in 14 states, comprising 358 individual parcels and more than 7,000 acres of primarily industrial land, making RACER one of the largest holders of industrial property in the United States. When it was formed, RACER was the largest environmental response and remediation trust in U.S. history.[3]
RACER is headquartered in Detroit, Michigan. Its administrative trustee is EPLET, LLC, the managing member of which is Elliott P. Laws, a former assistant administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response and a partner in the law firm Crowell & Moring. The Bankruptcy Court appointed EPLET, LLC to a five-year term as administrative trustee when RACER was established in 2011; EPLET, LLC was then reappointed to a second term in 2016 and a third term in 2021.
The Settlement Agreement assigns RACER two general roles regarding the former GMC properties in the RACER portfolio. First, RACER manages these properties while under RACER ownership and performs certain environmental cleanup of them where needed, even in some cases after RACER is no longer the owner. Second, RACER seeks to sell or transfer the properties for productive or beneficial reuse.
RACER is not a government entity but rather an independent trust with the United States of America as its sole beneficiary.
- ^ "RACER Trust Final Settlement Agreement" (PDF).
- ^ "UPDATE 1-Old GM exits Chapter 11, carved into four trusts". Reuters. 2011-03-31. Retrieved 2022-12-30.
- ^ "Who We Are and What We do :: RACER Trust".