[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 67 (Tuesday, April 8, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 16870]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-8927]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


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

    Notice is hereby given that a proposed Consent Decree in United 
States v. Conoco Inc. was lodged on March 6, 1997 with the United 
States District Court for the Western District of Louisiana. The 
parties to the Decree are Conoco Inc. (``Conoco'') and the relevant 
natural resource trustees: the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 
Administration; the Department of the Interior, and the State of 
Louisiana through the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, 
the Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and the Louisiana 
Department of Natural Resources. Under the terms of the Decree, Conoco 
agrees to implement and fund a restoration-based settlement as 
compensation for natural resource damages suffered as a result of a 
March, 1994 release of 1,2 dichloroethane (``EDC'') from Conoco's 
facility in Westlake, Louisiana. The claim being settled arose under 
Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, 
and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. 9607.
    Contemporaneously with lodging the Consent Decree, the United 
States and the State of Louisiana jointly filed a complaint alleging 
that Conoco is an owner or operator of the facility that released the 
EDC within the meaning of sections 107(a)(1) and 107(a)(2) of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
(``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9607(a)(1) and 9607(a)(2).
    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 C.A. 
97-0445. United States v. Conoco, DOJ Reference Number 90-11-3-1655.
    The proposed Consent Decree may be examined 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 $21.75 (25 
cents per page reproduction costs), payable to the Consent Decree 
Library.
Joel Gross,
Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and 
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 97-8927 Filed 4-7-97; 8:45 am]
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