[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 57 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14477-14478]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7673]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Order Under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act

    Notice is hereby given that a proposed consent order in In the 
Matters of Hanlin Group, Inc., et al., Case Nos. 91-33872-91-33875 
(SAS) (Bkcy. D. N.J.), was lodged on March 12, 1998, with the United 
States Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey. The proposed 
consent order would settle a claim asserted in this Chapter 11 
bankruptcy proceeding by the United States on behalf of the United 
States Environmental Protection Agency relating to reimbursement of 
post-petition administrative expenses in environmental response costs 
that have been or will be expended by EPA at three facilities owned 
and/or operated by debtors under the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response Compensation and Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9601 et 
seq. The three facilities are the Moundsville, West Virginia plant, 
owned by the Hanlin Chemicals West Virginia, Inc. subsidiary of the 
Hanlin Group, Inc., and the Linden, New Jersey and Brunswick, Georgia 
plants, owned by the LCP Chemicals Division of the Hanlin Group, Inc. 
The United States asserted a claim for approximately $50-$60 million 
for future costs of remediating the Moundsville facility, approximately 
$11-14 million for future costs of remediating the Linden facility, and 
approximately $4.2 million in past costs incurred with respect to 
response activities at the Brunswick facility.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent order, (1) with respect to 
the Moundsville facility, where AlliedSignal, Inc. is performing 
removal activities and has assumed the debtors' environmental 
obligations under an April 1994 agreement, Allied-Signal, Inc. 
expressly agrees that resolution of the United States' claim against 
the debtors does not affect or in any way diminish the cleanup 
obligations that AlliedSignal, Inc. has undertaken; (2) with respect to 
the Linden facility, the United States will receive an allowed first-
tier administrative expense claim for the $106,000 in costs that EPA 
has incurred with respect to that facility, a subordinated (second-
tier) claim of $5.5 million that would be paid only after payment to 
all allowed first-tier administrative claimants, and a 
supersubordinated (third-tier) administrative claim of $5.5 million 
that would be paid only after payment to all other allowed 
administrative claimants; (3) with respect to the Brunswick facility, 
the United States will receive an allowed first-tier administrative 
expense claim for the $1 million, a subordinated (second-tier) claim of 
$500,000 that would be paid only after payment to all allowed first-
tier administrative claimants, and a supersubordinated (third-tier) 
administrative claim of $2.7 million that would be paid only after 
payment to all other allowed administrative claimants. All payments to 
the United States under the proposed consent order will be paid to the 
EPA Hazardous Substance Superfund.
    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 order. 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 In 
the Matters of Hanlin Group, Inc., et al., DOJ Ref. No. 90-7-1-593A.
    The proposed consent order may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, 402 East State 
Street., Rm. 502, Trenton, NJ 08608; the Region II, III, and IV Offices 
of the Environmental Protection Agency, located at 290 Broadway, New 
York, NY 10007-1866 (Region II), 841 Chestnut Building, Philadelphia, 
PA 19107 (Region III), 100 Alabama Street, S.W., Atlanta, GA 30303-3104 
(Region IV). 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 order may be obtained in person or by mail from the 
Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, N.W., 4th

[[Page 14478]]

Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005. In requesting a copy, please refer to 
the referenced case and enclose a check in the amount of $3.25 (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. 98-7673 Filed 3-24-98; 8:45 am]
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