[Federal Register: November 30, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 229)]
[Notices]
[Page 65812-65813]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr30no98-119]

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Judgment Pursuant to Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)

    In accordance with Department of Justice policy, notice is hereby
given that on November 24, 1998, a proposed Consent Judgment in United
States v. General Motors Corporation, et al., Civil No. 98-CV-10368 BC,
was lodged in the United States District Court for the Eastern District
of Michigan. The Complaint filed by the United States pursuant to
section 107 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607, sought to recover damages for
injuries to natural resources in and around the Saginaw River and
Saginaw Bay, as a result of releases of polychlorinated biphenyls
(PCBs) from several facilities owned or operated by General Motors
Corporation, the City of Saginaw, the City of Bay City, and the
Michigan Department of Transportation. The State of Michigan and the
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe have also filed actions in the United States
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking damages
from these defendants for injuries to natural resources in Saginaw
River and Bay as a result of releases from defendants' facilities.
    The proposed Consent Judgment would resolve claims asserted against
defendants in all of the above-referenced civil actions. Under the
proposed Consent Judgment, settling parties will: (1) Pay up to $10.89
million into a fund that will be used to finance the dredging and
disposal of PCB-contaminated sediments from designated areas in the
Saginaw River in accordance with a Dredge Plan approved by the natural
resource Trustees; (2) convey certain ecologically valuable properties
to the Federal, State and Tribal Trustees, who will manage the
properties for the benefit of natural resources; (3) perform specified
natural resource restoration activities, including measures to restore
coastal wetland or lakeland prairie conditions on certain properties
conveyed to the State Trustee and measures to restore fish habitat in
the Tobico Marsh; (4) pay approximately $3.1 million into a fund that
will be used for monitoring and other activities to evaluate the
effectiveness of the activities undertaken pursuant to the Consent
Judgment, or for other purposes consistent with CERCLA; (5) grant the
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) a 99 year lease in
property comprising the Greenpoint Environmental Learning Center (with
an option to renew for an additional 99 years, rent free) and pay
$520,000 to USF&WS for use at the Greenpoint Environmental Learning
Center in restoring, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of injured
natural resources; (6) pay a total of $2 million to Federal and State
Trustees for past and future natural resource damage assessment and
restoration costs; and (6) establish certain recreational areas. In
addition, pursuant to previous agreements in principle among parties to
the settlement, defendants have previously paid $260,000 into an
account used to finance design of the sediment dredging and disposal
work contemplated under the Consent Judgment.
    The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty (30)
days from the date of this publication comments

[[Page 65813]]

concerning the proposed Consent Judgment. Comments should be addressed
to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 7611, Ben Franklin
Station, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to United States
v. General Motors Corporation, et al., D.J. Ref. No. 90-11-2-1041.
    The proposed Consent Judgment may be examined at any of the
following offices: (1) the United States Attorney for the Eastern
District of Michigan, 203 Federal Building, 106 Washington Street, Bay
City, MI 48708 (contact Assistant United States Attorney Michael
Hluchaniuk); (2) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, East
Lansing Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823
(contact Lisa Williams); and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G
Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. Copies of
the proposed Consent Judgment may be obtained in person or by mail from
the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington,
DC 20005, telephone (202) 624-0892. For a copy of the Consent Judgment,
please enclose a check in the amount of $58.00 (25 cents per page
reproduction costs) payable to Consent Decree Library.
Bruce S. Gelber,
Deputy Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 98-31861 Filed 11-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M