[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 166 (Wednesday, August 27, 2003)]
[Notices]
[Page 51595]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-21923]



[[Page 51595]]

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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Second Amended Clean Water Act Consent Decree With Icicle 
Seafoods, Inc.

AGENCY: Department of Justice.

ACTION: Notice of availability for public comment.

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SUMMARY: Notice is hereby given that on August 18, 2003, a Second 
Amended Consent Decree in United States v. Icicle Seafoods, Inc., 
Docket No. A03-0142 CV (JWS), was lodged with the United States 
District Court for the District of Alaska. In this action brought 
pursuant to section 309 of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 
1319, the United States has requested the imposition of civil penalties 
and injunctive relief on Icicle Seafoods, Inc. (Icicle). This action 
arose out of Icicle's operation of its Seward Fisheries Facility in 
Seward, Alaska. The United States has alleged that Icicle discharged 
seafood processing waste from that facility to waters of the United 
States without a permit on various days in 2000 and 2001, and that the 
company failed to meet several of the discharge and reporting 
requirements of its authorization to discharge under the general 
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit for seafood 
processors in Alaska (General Permit) on numerous days between January 
of 1998 and October of 2001, all in violation of section 301 of the 
Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1311.

    Authority: 28 CFR 50.7.

    Like the Consent Decree that was lodged with the court on June 26, 
2003, and the Amended Consent Decree that was lodged with the court on 
July 18, 2003, the Second Amended Consent Decree requires Icicle to pay 
an $85,000 civil penalty and perform several measures of injunctive 
relief at the Seward Fisheries Facility. The first element of 
injunctive relief, requiring that Icicle render salmon heads and waste 
salmon carcasses into fish meal during the 2003 processing season and 
provide related reporting to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), 
allowed Icicle to barge that salmon processing waste to an EPA-approved 
at-sea discharge location when the fish meal plant was inoperative and 
Icicle could not freeze that waste or dispose of it by means other than 
marine discharge. The Amended Consent Decree allowed an additional 
exception for at-sea discharges of such waste during the period July 
11-July 31, 2003. This exception was available if the fish meal plant 
is operating at full capacity and Icicle could not freeze or dispose of 
salmon heads and waste salmon carcasses by means other than marine 
discharge. The Second Amended Consent Decree changes the period during 
which this exception is available to August 15 through September 20, 
2003.
    The other injunctive relief measures Icicle is to implement remain 
the same. They concern the reduction of foam generated by the transfer 
of fresh seafood from catcher vessels to the Seward Fisheries Facility 
for processing; means to prevent the introduction of fish hooks into 
the grinders used to chop seafood processing waste into \1/2\'' pieces 
that can be discharged under the General Permit; the monitoring of the 
underwater waste pile created by discharges from the Seward Fisheries 
Facility prior to 2002; and improvement of internal operating 
procedures.

DATES: The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty 
(30) days from the date of this publication comments relating to the 
Second Amended Consent Decree.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney 
General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, United States 
Department of Justice and sent to 801 B Street, Suite 504, Anchorage, 
Alaska 99501-3657. Comments should refer to United States v. Icicle 
Seafoods, Inc., D.J. Ref. 90-5-1-1-07395. During the public 
comment period, the Second Amended Consent Decree may be examined 
during business hours at the same address by contacting Lorraine Carter 
(907-271-5452) or on the following Department of Justice Web site, 
http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/open.html. The Second Amended Consent Decree 
may also be examined at the Office of the Regional Counsel, EPA Region 
10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Seattle, Washington 98101, by contacting Meg 
Silver (206-553-1476). A copy of the Second Amended Consent Decree may 
be obtained by contacting Lorraine Carter in writing at the address 
above or via electronic mail ([email protected]). In requesting 
a copy by mail, please enclose a check in the amount of $5.00 (25 cents 
per page reproduction cost) payable to the U.S Treasury.

Catherine R. McCabe,
Deputy Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 03-21923 Filed 8-26-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M