[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 50 (Wednesday, March 16, 2005)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12898-12899]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-5198]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Between the United States and 
Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation Under the Clean 
Air Act

    Under 28 CFR 50.7, notice is hereby given that on March 7, 2005, a 
proposed consent decree (``Consent Decree'') between Illinois Power 
Company, Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc. and the United States, Civil 
Action No. 99-833-MJR, was lodged with the United States District Court 
for the Southern District of Illinois.
    The Consent Decree would resolve claims asserted by the United 
States against Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation in 
a Complaint filed against Illinois Power Company on November 3, 1999 
and in Amended Complaints filed against both Illinois Power Company and 
Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc. in 2001, 2002 and 2003, pursuant to 
sections 113(b) and 167 of the Clean Air Act (the ``Act''), 42 U.S.C. 
7413(b) and 7477, seeking injunctive relief and the assessment of civil 
penalties for violations at the Baldwin Generating Station of:
    (a) The Prevention of Significant Deterioration provisions in part 
C of subchapter I of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 7470-92;
    (b) The New Source Performance Standards provision in part A of 
subchapter I of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 7411; and
    (c) The federally-enforceable State Implementation Plan developed 
by the State of Illinois (the ``Illinois SIP'').
    In addition, the proposed Consent Decree would require Dynegy 
Midwest Generation to spend no less than $15 million to implement 
mitigation projects that will finance the installation of enhanced 
mercury reduction technology, the acquisition and preservation of 
ecologically valuable lands and habitat in the St. Louis Metro East 
area and along the Illinois River, municipal building energy 
conservation, advanced truck stop electrification to reduce air 
emissions from diesel exhaust, and the transfer of an approximately 
1,135 acre parcel of land along the Middle Fork of the Vermillion River 
in Vermillion County, Illinois, to the State of Illinois, Department
    The Complaints filed by the United States allege, among other 
things, that between approximately 1982 and the present, Illinois Power 
Company modified and thereafter operated the three coal-fired 
electricity generating units at the Baldwin Generating Station in 
Baldwin, Illinois, without first obtaining a PSD permit authorizing the 
construction and without installing the best available technology to 
control emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate 
matter, as required by the Act, applicable Federal regulations, and the 
Illinois SIP. These modifications resulted in significant net emissions 
increases, as defined by 40 CFR 52.21(b)(3)(i), of none or more of the 
following pollutants: NOX, SO2, and PM.
    The proposed Consent Decree would require the current owner and 
operator of the Baldwin Generating Station, Dynegy Midwest Generation, 
to reduce SO2, NOX and PM emissions at the 
Baldwin Generating Station, as well as at four other coal-fired plants 
it owns in Illinois--the Havana Generating Station in Havana, IL, the 
Hennepin Generating Station in Hennepin, IL, the Vermilion Generating 
Station in Oakwood, IL, and the Wood River Generating Station in Alton, 
Illinois--through the installation of state-of-the-art pollution 
control

[[Page 12899]]

technologies and compliance with specified emission limits of Natural 
Resources. Finally, the proposed Consent Decree would require Dynegy 
Midwest Generation to pay a $9.0 million civil penalty.
    The United States was joined in the settlement by Plaintiff-
Intervenors the State of Illinois and four citizen groups--the American 
Bottom Conservancy; Health and Environmental Justice--St. Louis; 
Illinois Stewardship Alliance; and the Prairie Rivers Network.
    The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication comments relating to the Consent 
Decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney General, 
Environment and Natural Resources Division, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. 
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to 
United States v. Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation, 
Inc., D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-2-1-06837.
    The Consent Decree may be examined at the Office of the United 
States Attorney, Southern District of Illinois, 9 Executive Drive, 
Suite 300, Fairview Heights, IL 62208, and at U.S. EPA Region V, 77 
West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3507. During the public comment 
period, the Consent Decree, may also be examined on the following 
Department of Justice Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/open.html. A 
copy of the Consent Decree may also be obtained by mail from the 
Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, 
Washington, DC 20044-7611 or by faxing or e-mailing a request to Tonia 
Fleetwood ([email protected]), fax no. (202) 514-0097, phone 
confirmation number (202) 514-1547. In requesting a copy from the 
Consent Decree Library, please enclose a check in the amount of $21.75 
(25 cents per page reproduction cost) payable to the U.S. Treasury.

W. Benjamin Fisherow,
Deputy Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and 
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 05-5198 Filed 3-15-05 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M