[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 108 (Thursday, June 5, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 30881]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14704]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Clean Water 
Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, notice is 
hereby given that a consent decree was lodged in U.S. v. Pacific Gas 
and Electric Company, Civil Action No. C97-1969-MHP (N.D. Cal.) on May 
27, 1997 with the United States District Court for the Northern 
District of California. The case is a civil action under Section 309 of 
the Clean Water Act (``Act''), 33 U.S.C. 1319, for violations of 
provisions of the Act and of National Pollution Elimination Discharge 
System (``NPDES'') permits that required Pacific Gas and Electric 
Company (``PG&E'') to demonstrate that the cooling water system at the 
Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant employed the best technology 
available to minimize adverse environmental impacts.
    The United States' complaint alleges that PG&E submitted an 
incorrect, incomplete, and misleading report on the environmental 
effects of the Diablo Canyon cooling water system and that PG&E also 
failed to promptly submit missing information after it discovered that 
it had submitted incorrect information in a report. The State of 
California has also filed a complaint against PG&E. The State of 
California and the United States have entered into a joint consent 
decree with PG&E that resolves the allegations of both complaints. 
Under the Consent Decree, PG&E will pay the state and federal 
governments $14.04 million dollars. That sum includes $7.1 million in 
state and federal penalties, $6.19 million in environmental projects, 
and $750,000 in State fees and costs. The $6.19 million environmental 
enhancement component of the settlement comprises three projects: $3.66 
million to be devoted to the Morro Bay State and National Estuary 
Program, $2.50 million for the State of California Mussel Watch 
Program, and $30,000 for a stream enhancement project. The League for 
Coastal Protection, which also filed a law suit against PG&E, assisted 
in securing the environmental enhancement components of the proposed 
settlement.
    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 copied to Robert R. 
Klotz, Environmental Enforcement Section, U.S. Department of Justice, 
301 Howard Street, Suite 870, San Francisco, CA 94105. Comments should 
refer to U.S. v. Pacific Gas and Electric Company, DOJ No. 90-5-1-1-
4348.
    The proposed PG&E consent decree may be examined at the office of 
the United States Attorney, Northern District of California, 450 Golden 
Gate Avenue, San Francisco, California 94102; the Region IX Office of 
the Environmental Protection Agency, 75 Hawthorne Street, San 
Francisco, California 94105; and 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. To request a copy of the consent decree in U.S. v. Pacific 
Gas and Electric Company, please refer to that case and DOJ No. 90-5-1-
1-4348 and enclose a check for the amount of $9.75 (25 cents per page 
reproduction cost) payable to the Consent Decree Library.
Joel Gross,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 97-14704 Filed 6-4-97; 8:45 am]
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