[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 248 (Thursday, December 27, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66934-66935]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-31787]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under Clean Water Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, notice is 
hereby given that a proposed consent decree in United States v. 
Monongahela Power Company, Inc. (d/b/a Allegheny Power), C.A. No. 1 
1:01-CV-6, was lodged on November 9, 2001, with the United States 
District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia. The consent 
decree resolves the United States' claims against the defendant, 
pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the 
Clean Water Act, 33 U.S. C. 1251-1387, as amended by the Oil Pollution 
Act of 1990, Pub. L. 101-380 (``CWA''), and 40 CFR 112.4. Specifically, 
the consent decree resolves the United States' claim against the 
defendant for violating Sections 301 and 311 of the CWA, 33 U.S.C. 
1311, 1321, with respect to an oil spill that occurred at the 
defendant's Belmont Substation, located in Pleasants County, West 
Virginia. Further, the consent decree resolves the United States' claim 
against defendant for failing to submit a copy of its Spill Prevention 
Control and Countermeasures (``SPCC'') Plan to the Environmental 
Protection Agency within 60 days after the spill, as required by 40 CFR 
112.4.
    Under the consent decree, the defendant will pay a total civil 
penalty in the amount of $252,000 to resolve the violations with 
respect the discharge and failure to submit its SPCC Plan in a timely 
manner. In addition, the defendant has agreed to implement agreed-upon 
injunctive relief measures, which include, inter alia, replacement of 
the transformer that failed and caused the discharge, upgrading 
containment around certain transformers at the Substation, and adding 
additional equipment at the Substation that will aid in addressing any 
future spills. The civil penalty is due to be paid within thirty (30) 
days after entry of the consent decree by the Court.

[[Page 66935]]

    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 Acting 
Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural Resources 
Division, Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should refer 
to United States v. Monongahela Power Company, Inc. and DOJ Reference 
No. 90-5-1-1-06477. The comments should be faxed, not mailed, to the 
Acting Assistant Attorney General at 202/616-6583. Alternatively, the 
comments may be mailed to the Office of the United States Attorney, 
ATTN: Patrick M. Flatley, 1100 Main Street, Suite 200, Wheeling, West 
Virginia 26003.
    The proposed consent decree may be examined at the Office of the 
United States Attorney, 1100 Main Street, Suite 200, Wheeling, West 
Virginia 26003; and the Region III Office of the Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. 
A copy of the proposed decree may be obtained by mail from the 
Department of Justice Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, 
Washington, DC 20044. In requesting a copy, please refer to the 
referenced case and enclose a check in the amount of $10.50 (.25 cents 
per page production costs), payable to the Consent Decree Library.

Robert D. Brook,
Assistant Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and 
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 01-31787 Filed 12-26-01; 8:45 am]
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