ATC Atlantic Coal

RNS No 7383v
ATLANTIC RICHFIELD COMPANY
16th November 1998

ARCO, U.S., Montana and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes Settle Silver
Bow Creek Remediation and Natural Resource Damages Claims

LOS ANGELES, Nov. 16 /PRNewswire/-- ARCO (NYSE: ARC), the United States, the
State of Montana and the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes today filed,
for court approval, a settlement agreement in two pending cases in Federal
District Court in Montana.

The agreement filed in United States v. ARCO and Montana v. ARCO completes
another conditional settlement filed with the Court by ARCO and the State of
Montana on June 19, 1998.  That settlement was conditioned upon today's
agreement and upon court approval of both agreements.

Today's agreement sets forth the terms under which ARCO will pay $80 million of
the $215 million called for by the June 19 agreement to remediate and restore
Silver Bow Creek.  The remaining $135 million of the June 19 agreement resolved
most of the State's claims against ARCO for natural resource damages in the
Clark Fork River Basin.

Today's agreement also resolves all of the tribes' claims against ARCO relating
to environmental conditions in the Clark Fork River Basin, including natural
resource damage claims, in exchange for payment of $18.3 million.

Also in addition, today's agreement provides for additional payments to the U.S.
of $5.7 million related to the governments' past costs and other claims at the
Silver Bow Creek site, and resolution of the federal government's claims for
natural resource damages in the Clark Fork River Basin, except for the Grant
Kohrs Ranch National Historic Site and certain parcels of land along the Clark
Fork River owned by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management.  ARCO will also pay the
U.S. $1.7 million and enhance or create 400 acres of wetlands for this
settlement.

Today's agreement also establishes a framework for ARCO and the U.S. to attempt,
in a phased manner, to resolve remaining claims concerning costs associated with
the remediation of the remaining Superfund sites located in the Clark Fork River
Basin between Butte and Milltown Reservoir.

The sites covered by the agreements were inherited by ARCO when it acquired the
Anaconda Company in 1977.

Over the years, ARCO and Montana community leaders have worked together to
transform Superfund sites at the Old Works, Warm Springs Ponds, and areas in
Butte into national models of responsible reclamation.

Because ARCO previously reserved funds for these settlements, they will not have
a material effect on ARCO's net income.

SOURCE ARCO
CONTACT: Marylou Flynn, 213-486-3384, arconews@arco.com, or in Montana- Sandra
Stash 406-563-5211, ext. 417, both of ARCO/Web site: http://www.arco.com/ (ARC)

END

MSCANROKWOKAAUA

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