[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 232 (Wednesday, December 3, 1997)]
[Notices]
[Page 63959]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-31722]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decrees Pursuant to the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, Section 122(d) 
(2) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9622(d)(2), and Section 7003(d) 
of the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (``RCRA''), 42 U.S.C. 
6973(d), notice is hereby given that proposed consent decrees in United 
States, et al. v. Alcan Aluminum, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 88-
4970, and in United States v. Air Products and Chemicals, Inc., et al., 
Civil Action No. 97-7140, were lodged on November 21, 1997, with the 
United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. 
The proposed consent decrees, which together are intended to comprise a 
global settlement with respect to remaining issues involving the Kline 
Township location of the Site, would settle actions that the United 
States brought on behalf of the United States Environmental Protection 
Agency under Sections 106 and 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, as amended (``CERCLA''), 42 
U.S.C. 9606, 9607(a), to compel environmental response actions to be 
taken and for recovery of response costs incurred by the United States 
in connection with the McAdoo Associates Superfund Site, located in 
Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, in or near the Borough of McAdoo 
(``the Site''). The consent decrees would also resolve the claims of 
some of the settling defendants against other of the settling 
defendants arising out of this and an earlier settlement related to the 
Site in United States and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Air Products 
and Chemicals, Inc., et al., Civil Action No. 87-7352 (E.D. Pa.) 
(consent decree entered June 3, 1988) (``the 1988 decree''). Under the 
terms of the proposed consent decrees, (1) the United States will 
recover on behalf of the EPA Hazardous Substance Superfund, from those 
settling defendants that did not settle with the United States under 
the 1988 decree (``the Alcan parties''), the sum of $970,000, plus a 
designated share of interest that has accrued on funds that the Alcan 
parties paid into an escrow account pending finalization of a 1992 
consent decree, whose entry was vacated by the United States Court of 
Appeals in United States v. Alcan Aluminum, Inc., 25 F. 3d 1174 (3d 
Cir. 1994); (2) those settling defendants that settled under the 1988 
decree (``the Air Products parties'') will receive $1.2 million from 
the Alcan parties and from the escrow account to resolve the Air 
Products parties' claims for contribution against the Alcan parties 
($170,000), and to resolve the Air Products parties' reauthorized claim 
for reimbursement from the EPA Hazardous Substance Superfund under the 
1988 decree ($1.03 million); (3) the Air Products parties will perform 
a groundwater monitoring remedy selected by EPA under a Record of 
Decision for the Site issued on September 30, 1991 for Operable Unit 
Two (OU2) at the Site; and (4) the settling defendants will pay the 
United States and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania's past costs 
relating to OU2 at the Site (totaling $75,000 and $5,000, 
respectively).
    The consent decrees include a covenant not to sue by the United 
States under Sections 106 and 107 of CERCLA, and under Section 7003 of 
RCRA.
    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 decrees. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, 
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530, and should refer to 
United States v. Alcan Aluminum, Inc., et al., DOJ Ref. Nos. 90-11-3-
142A and 90-11-3-142E. Commenters may request an opportunity for a 
public meeting in the affected area, in accordance with Section 7003(d) 
of RCRA, 42 U.S.C. 6973(d).
    The proposed consent decrees may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, 615 
Chestnut Street, Suite 1250, Philadelphia, PA 19106; the Region III 
Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, 841 Chestnut Building, 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107; 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 decrees 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 $33.50 (25 cents 
per page reproduction costs) payable to the Consent Decree Library (or 
$89.75 for a copy that includes all signature pages and exhibits).
Walker Smith,
Deputy Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and 
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 97-31722 Filed 12-2-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-01-M