[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 9 (Tuesday, January 14, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Pages 1901-1902]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-799]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, notice is hereby given that 
a proposed consent decree in United States v. Western Crude Reserves, 
Inc. et al, Civil Action No. 95-52, was lodged on October, 1994 with 
the United States District Court for Eastern District of Kentucky, 
Lexington division. Under the consent decree the United States is 
settling claims against two defendants, Western Crude Reserves, Inc. 
and Reserve Energy, Ltd., based on claims for civil penalties and 
injunctive relief relating to alleged violations of the Safe Drinking 
Water Act (``SDWA'') and the implementing Underground Injection Control 
(``UIC'') regulations, 40 C.F.R. Sec. 144.28 et seq. The United States 
alleged that Reserve Energy, Ltd. and Western Crude Reserves, Inc. once 
owned and operated, respectively, 113 underground injection wells in 
the Irvine, Garrett and South Fork units in the Irvine-Furnace field in 
Powell and Estill Counties, Kentucky. Reserve Energy, Ltd. is a limited 
partnership. Western Crude Reserves, Inc. is the corporate general 
partner of Reserve Energy. In 1993, Reserve Energy transferred the 
wells to defendant Kish Resources PLC. Under the proposed settlement, 
Western Crude Reserves, Inc. and Reserve Energy, Ltd. will provide 
$75,000 in financial assurance for plugging abandoned injection wells, 
and the field will be transferred to a nonparty, Trinity Group, LLC. 
(``Trinity''), for the purpose of bringing the wells into regulatory 
compliance pursuant to a schedule set forth in an Administrative Order 
on Consent (``AOC'') entered between Trinity and EPA. Under the AOC, 
Trinity will provide $50,000 in financial assurance and will plug or 
case and cement the injection wells over the course of three years. 
Under this settlement, EPA will obtain the injunctive relief it seeks 
to bring the field into compliance, plus a

[[Page 1902]]

total of $125,000 in financial assurance, in case Trinity does not 
fulfill its obligations.
    The Department of Justice will receive, for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication, comments relating to the 
proposed consent decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, 
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should refer to United 
States v. Western Crude Reserves, Inc. et al., DOJ Ref. #90-112-859.
    The proposed consent decree may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney, 1441 Main Street, Suite 500 Columbia, South 
Carolina (803) 929-3000; the Region IV Office of the Environmental 
Protection Agency, 100 Alabama Street, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303; and 
at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW., 4th Floor, 
Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. A copy of the proposed consent 
decree may be obtained in person or by mail from the Consent Decree 
Library, 1120 G Street, NW., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. In 
requesting a copy please refer to the referenced case and enclose a 
check in the amount of $6.25 (25 cents per page reproduction costs), 
payable to the Consent Decree Library.
Joel M. Gross,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 97-799 Filed 1-13-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M