[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 229 (Monday, November 30, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Pages 65812-65813]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-31861]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Judgment Pursuant to Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)

    In accordance with Department of Justice policy, notice is hereby 
given that on November 24, 1998, a proposed Consent Judgment in United 
States v. General Motors Corporation, et al., Civil No. 98-CV-10368 BC, 
was lodged in the United States District Court for the Eastern District 
of Michigan. The Complaint filed by the United States pursuant to 
section 107 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607, sought to recover damages for 
injuries to natural resources in and around the Saginaw River and 
Saginaw Bay, as a result of releases of polychlorinated biphenyls 
(PCBs) from several facilities owned or operated by General Motors 
Corporation, the City of Saginaw, the City of Bay City, and the 
Michigan Department of Transportation. The State of Michigan and the 
Saginaw Chippewa Tribe have also filed actions in the United States 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking damages 
from these defendants for injuries to natural resources in Saginaw 
River and Bay as a result of releases from defendants' facilities.
    The proposed Consent Judgment would resolve claims asserted against 
defendants in all of the above-referenced civil actions. Under the 
proposed Consent Judgment, settling parties will: (1) Pay up to $10.89 
million into a fund that will be used to finance the dredging and 
disposal of PCB-contaminated sediments from designated areas in the 
Saginaw River in accordance with a Dredge Plan approved by the natural 
resource Trustees; (2) convey certain ecologically valuable properties 
to the Federal, State and Tribal Trustees, who will manage the 
properties for the benefit of natural resources; (3) perform specified 
natural resource restoration activities, including measures to restore 
coastal wetland or lakeland prairie conditions on certain properties 
conveyed to the State Trustee and measures to restore fish habitat in 
the Tobico Marsh; (4) pay approximately $3.1 million into a fund that 
will be used for monitoring and other activities to evaluate the 
effectiveness of the activities undertaken pursuant to the Consent 
Judgment, or for other purposes consistent with CERCLA; (5) grant the 
United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) a 99 year lease in 
property comprising the Greenpoint Environmental Learning Center (with 
an option to renew for an additional 99 years, rent free) and pay 
$520,000 to USF&WS for use at the Greenpoint Environmental Learning 
Center in restoring, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of injured 
natural resources; (6) pay a total of $2 million to Federal and State 
Trustees for past and future natural resource damage assessment and 
restoration costs; and (6) establish certain recreational areas. In 
addition, pursuant to previous agreements in principle among parties to 
the settlement, defendants have previously paid $260,000 into an 
account used to finance design of the sediment dredging and disposal 
work contemplated under the Consent Judgment.
    The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication comments

[[Page 65813]]

concerning the proposed Consent Judgment. Comments should be addressed 
to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources 
Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 7611, Ben Franklin 
Station, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to United States 
v. General Motors Corporation, et al., D.J. Ref. No. 90-11-2-1041.
    The proposed Consent Judgment may be examined at any of the 
following offices: (1) the United States Attorney for the Eastern 
District of Michigan, 203 Federal Building, 106 Washington Street, Bay 
City, MI 48708 (contact Assistant United States Attorney Michael 
Hluchaniuk); (2) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, East 
Lansing Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823 
(contact Lisa Williams); and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G 
Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. Copies of 
the proposed Consent Judgment may be obtained in person or by mail from 
the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, 
DC 20005, telephone (202) 624-0892. For a copy of the Consent Judgment, 
please enclose a check in the amount of $58.00 (25 cents per page 
reproduction costs) payable to Consent Decree Library.
Bruce S. Gelber,
Deputy Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 98-31861 Filed 11-27-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M