[JURIST] The aerospace division of Honeywell International [corporate website] has agreed [settlement, PDF] to pay $5 million in fines and $1 million for a cleanup project for environmental violations at its Phoenix, Arizona facility, according to a Thursday release [PDF text] from Arizona officials. In the lawsuit [PDF text], the state had alleged that the Honeywell had committed 38 infractions of state environmental laws [statute materials], including the Arizona Water Quality Control Act, Arizona Hazardous Waste Disposal Act, and the Arizona Underground Storage Tank Act, over the past 30 years. In the joint release from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and Attorney General [official website], the state asserted that the company had improperly stored numerous hazardous materials and failed to report incidents of ground water contamination, but Honeywell maintains that it is not liable for the violations. AP has more. The Arizona Republic has local coverage.

In June, the US Department of Justice filed a complaint [PDF text; JURIST report] in the US District Court for the District of Columbia against Honeywell, alleging that the company knowingly sold more than 1,700 defective bulletproof vests to US law enforcement and military agencies during a five-year period. The DOJ also accused Honeywell of hiding knowledge that its patented Zylon [NASA backgrounder] fabric, which was used in the vests, would deteriorate over time, alleging that Honeywell pressured vests manufacturer Armor Holdings [corporate website] not to warn customers of this defect. Honeywell denied the allegations.