Alabama County Has `No Plan' for Ending Debt Crisis

Jefferson County, Alabama, has ``no plan'' for resolving the $3.2 billion sewer debt crisis that has pushed the state's most-populous county to the brink of bankruptcy, the president of the county commission said.

Should the county renege on the debts, it would be the largest municipal bond default in U.S. history, outstripping the Washington Public Power Supply System's $2.25 billion reneging in 1983 of revenue bonds sold for nuclear plants. It could also saddle investors, insurers Syncora Guarantee Inc., formerly XL Capital Assurance Inc., and Financial Guaranty Insurance Co., as well as banks such as JPMorgan, with hundreds of millions in losses.