[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 201 (Tuesday, October 19, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 64352-64353]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-26238]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and The Clean 
Water Act

    Notice is hereby given that on October 12, 2010, two proposed 
Consent Decrees in United States and State of Louisiana v. 
ConocoPhillips Company and Sasol North America Inc., Civil Action No. 
2:10-cv-1556, were lodged with the United States District Court for the 
Western District of Louisiana.
    In this action the United States, on behalf of the United States 
Environmental Protection Agency, the United States Department of the 
Interior, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration of 
the United States Department of Commerce, and the State of Louisiana, 
on behalf of the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 
(``LDWF'') and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality 
(``LDEQ''), sought, pursuant to Sections 106 and 107(a) of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act 
(``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9606 and 9607(a), and pursuant to Section 
311(f) of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1321(f), (1) Reimbursement of 
response costs incurred and to be incurred by the governments in 
connection with the Calcasieu Estuary Superfund Site (``Site''), (2) 
injunctive relief requiring performance of response actions by 
Defendants; and (3) recovery of damages for the injury to, destruction 
of, or loss of natural resources under the trusteeship of the federal 
and state trustees, as a result of releases and threatened release of 
hazardous substances into the environment at or from the Site, 
including the recovery of the costs of assessing such injury and 
damages and the future costs of overseeing and monitoring restoration 
actions. The Calcasieu Estuary Superfund Site is located in Louisiana 
and includes the aerial extent of contamination within the area of the 
Estuary encompassing Bayou Verdine, Bayou d' Inde, Coon Island Loop, 
Clooney Island Loop, Prien Lake, Lake Charles, and the Calcasieu River 
from the saltwater barrier to Moss Lake.
    The United States and the State have negotiated two separate 
consent decrees to resolve the CERCLA and CWA claims against Settling 
Defendants, as well as the state law claims. The proposed Consent 
Decrees resolve the liability of ConocoPhillips Company and Sasol North 
America Inc. for response costs incurred and response actions taken in 
connection with the Site and for damages for injury to, loss of, or 
destruction of natural resources at the Site as alleged in the 
Complaint. Under the Consent Decree for Removal Action and Recovery of 
Response Costs, Settling Defendants have agreed to: (1) Reimburse the 
United States $4,553,547 of past response costs for the Site and 100% 
of future oversight costs related to the selected removal action for 
Bayou Verdine, and (2) perform a non-time critical removal action 
within Bayou Verdine and adjacent areas at the Site in accordance with 
the Action Memorandum for a Removal Action at the Calcasieu Estuary 
Superfund Site, Bayou Verdine Area of Concern, Lake Charles, Calcasieu 
Parish, Louisiana, executed by EPA on August 6, 2003. This Consent 
Decree includes a covenant not to sue by the United States and the 
State under Sections 106 and 107 of CERCLA, under Section 311(f) of the 
Clean Water Act, and under Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation 
and Recovery Act (``RCRA''), 42 U.S.C. 6973.
    Under the Consent Decree for Natural Resource Damages, Settling 
Defendants have agreed to (1) reimburse the federal and state trustees 
nearly $1,200,000 of past natural resource damages assessment costs, 
(2) perform construction of a restoration project selected by the 
trustees in accordance with the Final Restoration Plan and 
Environmental Assessment for the Bayou Verdine Site, and (3) pay an 
additional sum of $750,000 toward further monitoring or corrective 
action after completion of construction of the restoration project. 
Under the terms of the Consent Decree and the assessment and 
restoration plan finalized by the Trustees, the Settling Defendants 
will construct the Sabine Unit 1999 Restoration Project to compensate 
for the natural resources losses attributable to Settling Defendants' 
releases of hazardous substances into the Calcasieu Estuary. The 
Project will create over 14 new acres of marsh, enhance the ecological 
functioning of approximately 247 acres of existing marsh, and increase 
the expected functional life span of these marshes. It is to be 
performed in the Calcasieu Estuary at a designated site within the 
Sabine National Wildlife Refuge. This Consent Decree includes a 
covenant not to sue by the United States and the State under Section 
107 of CERCLA and under Section 311(f) of the Clean Water Act.
    The two proposed Consent Decrees are to become effective only after 
both have been entered by the Court.
    The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication comments relating to the Consent 
Decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General 
for the Environment and Natural Resources Division, U.S. Department of 
Justice, and either e-mailed to <a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#cababfa8a9a5a7a7afa4bee7afafb9e4afa4b8ae8abfb9aea5a0e4ada5bc"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="adddd8cfcec2c0c0c8c3d980c8c8de83c8c3dfc9edd8dec9c2c783cac2db">[email protected]</span></a> or mailed 
to P.O. Box 7611, NW., Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to 
United States and State of Louisiana v. ConocoPhillips Company and 
Sasol North America Inc., D.J. Ref. 90-11-2-1284 and 1284/1. Commenters 
may request an opportunity for a public meeting in the affected area, 
in accordance with Section 7003 (d) of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6973(d).
    The Consent Decrees may be examined at the Office of the United 
States Attorney, Western District of Louisiana, 800 Lafayette Street, 
Suite

[[Page 64353]]

2200, Lafayette, Louisiana 70501. The Consent Decree for Removal Action 
and Recovery of Response Costs may also be examined at U.S. EPA Region 
6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas, 75202. During the 
public comment period, the Consent Decrees may also be examined on the 
following Department of Justice Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. A copy of either Consent Decree may also be 
obtained by mail from the Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. 
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611 or by faxing or e-
mailing a request to Tonia Fleetwood (<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#3b4f5455525a155d575e5e4f4c54545f7b4e485f5451155c544d"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="b9cdd6d7d0d897dfd5dcdccdced6d6ddf9cccaddd6d397ded6cf">[email protected]</span></a>), fax 
no. (202) 514-0097, phone confirmation number (202) 514-1547. In 
requesting a copy from the Consent Decree Library, please enclose a 
check in the amount of $51.25 for the Response Costs and Response 
Action Consent Decree and attachments (25 cents per page reproduction 
cost) and/or in the amount of $21.75 for the Natural Resource Damages 
Consent Decree and attachments (25 cents per page reproduction cost), 
payable to the U.S. Treasury or, if by email or fax, forward a check in 
the amount(s) to the Consent Decree Library at the stated address.

Maureen Katz,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2010-26238 Filed 10-18-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-P


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