[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 245 (Thursday, December 19, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67066-67067]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-32163]


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


DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of consent Decree Pursuant to the Safe Drinking 
Water 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 24, 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

[[Page 67067]]

Underground Injection Control (``UIC'') regulations, 40 CFR 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 Irvin-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 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, D.C. 20530, and should refer to 
United States v. Western Crude Reserves, Inc. et al., DOJ Ref. #90-5-1-
1-5067.
    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, 345 Courtland Street Atlanta, Georgia 30365; and at 
the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, N.W., 4th Floor, Washington, 
D.C. 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, N.W., 4th Floor, Washington, D.C. 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 Gross,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 96-32163 Filed 12-18-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M