[Federal Register Volume 74, Number 202 (Wednesday, October 21, 2009)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54076-54077]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E9-25216]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


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

    Consistent with Section 122 of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980, as amended 
(``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9622(d), and 28 CFR 50.7, notice is hereby 
given that on October 9, 2009, the United States lodged a Consent 
Decree with the City of South Lake Tahoe, California (``the City'') in 
United States of America v. El Dorado County, California, et al., Civil 
No. S-01-1520 MCE GGH (E.D. Cal.), with respect to the Meyers Landfill 
Site, located in Meyers, El Dorado County, California (the ``Site'').
    On August 3, 2001, Plaintiff United States of America (``United 
States''), on behalf of the United States Department of Agriculture, 
Forest Service (``Forest Service''), filed a complaint in this matter 
pursuant to Section 107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9607, against 
Defendants, El Dorado County, California (the ``County'') and the City. 
The complaint filed by the United States seeks recovery of 
environmental response costs incurred by the Forest Service related to 
the release or threatened release and/or disposal of hazardous 
substances at or from the Meyers Landfill Site, a former municipal 
waste disposal facility located on National Forest Service System lands 
administered by the Lake Tahoe Basin Management Unit of the Forest 
Service, with accrued interest, and a declaration of the County's and 
the City's liability for future response costs incurred by the United 
States related to the Site. The City filed counterclaims against the 
United States pursuant to CERCLA. The proposed Consent Decree resolves 
the United States' CERCLA claims against the City and the City's CERCLA 
claims against the United States.
    Under the proposed Consent Decree the City will pay $1.6 million, a 
portion of which will be deposited into a Forest Service Special 
account to fund future response actions at the Site and a portion of 
which will go to the Forest Service to fund response actions related

[[Page 54077]]

to groundwater at the Site, including a Remedial Investigation/
Feasibility Study and the selection of a remedy for contaminated 
groundwater at the Site. In exchange for the City's payment, the City 
will receive from the United States a covenant not to sue or to take 
administrative action pursuant to Sections 106 or 107 of CERCLA, 42 
U.S.C. 9606 and 9607, as amended, for the performance of response 
actions at the Site and the United States' past and future response 
costs at the Site. In addition, the City will dismiss its CERCLA claims 
against the Forest Service. 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 
Acting Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources 
Division, and either e-mailed to [email protected] or 
mailed to P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 
20044-7611, and should refer to United States of America v. El Dorado 
County, California, et al., Civil No. S-01-1520 MCE GGH (E.D. Cal.) 
(DOJ Ref. No. 90-11-3-06554)(Consent Decree with City).
    The Consent Decree with the City may be examined at U.S. Department 
of Agriculture, Office of General Counsel, 33 New Montgomery Street, 
17th Floor, San Francisco, CA 94150 (contact Rose Miksovsky, (415) 744-
3158). During the public comment period, the Consent Decree with the 
District may also be examined on the following Department of Justice 
Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. A copy of 
the Consent Decree with the City may also be obtained by mail from the 
Consent Decree Library, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 7611, 
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 refer to United States of America v. El 
Dorado County, California, et al., Civil No. S-01-1520 MCE GGH (E.D. 
Cal.) (DOJ Ref. No. 90-11-3-06554) (Consent Decree with City), and 
enclose a check in the amount of $35.75 (25 cents per page reproduction 
cost) payable to the U.S. Treasury or, if by e-mail or fax, forward a 
check in that amount to the Consent Decree Library at the stated 
address.

Maureen Katz,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. E9-25216 Filed 10-20-09; 8:45 am]
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