[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 220 (Thursday, November 16, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53529-53530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-24825]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Proposed Amendment to Consent Decree Under 
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 
Act and the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

    On November 9, 2017, the Department of Justice and the State of 
California on behalf of the California Department of Toxic Substances 
Control and Toxic Substances Control Account (``DTSC'') lodged a 
proposed amendment (``Amendment 1'') to a Consent Decree with the 
United States District Court for the Central District of California 
(``Court'') in the matter of United States of America and State of 
California on behalf of the Department of Toxic Substances Control and 
Toxic Substances Control Account vs. Abex Aerospace et al., Civil 
Action No. 2:16-cv-02696 (C.D. Cal.). This Amendment 1 amends Appendix 
D of the Consent Decree previously approved by the Court on March 31, 
2017; that Consent Decree pertains to environmental contamination at 
Operable Unit 2 (``OU2'') of the Omega Chemical Corporation Superfund 
Site (Site) in Los Angeles County, California. The Amendment is for the 
sole purposes of adding additional settling parties to the Consent 
Decree, and follows the mechanisms that the previously approved Consent 
Decree sets forth for adding additional settlors.
    The Consent Decree resolves certain claims under Sections 106 and 
107 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. 9606, 9607, and Section 7003 of the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. 6973, as well as related state 
law claims, in connection with environmental contamination at OU2. The 
Amendment adds the following additional settling parties as Settling 
Cash Defendants:
    (a) Two parties, Mission Linen Supply Company and Pilot Chemical 
Corp., each of which has owned or operated a facility within the 
commingled OU2 groundwater plume area. These parties

[[Page 53530]]

are ``Certain Noticed Parties'' within the meaning of Paragraph 75 and 
Appendix G of the Consent Decree.
    (b) Two parties, Hexion Inc. and MCP Foods, Inc., who are 
successors to the liability of a single ``arranger'' party who sent 
waste to the Omega Chemical Corporation facility in Whittier, 
California; and
    (c) Twenty-six parties that had previously resolved their liability 
associated with the Omega Chemical Corporation facility: American 
International Industries; Atoll Holdings, Inc.; Brunton Enterprises, 
Inc.; Carvin Corp.; Central Plaza; Corchem Corporation; Couch and 
Philippi, Inc.; Ed-Lin Auto Body, Inc.; Gamboa's Body and Frame Inc.; 
Good-West Rubber Corp; I & I Deburring, Inc.; J.D. Property Management, 
Inc.; Kwikset Corporation; Luppen Holdings, Inc.; M & M Printed Bag, 
Inc.; Newton Heat Treating Company, Inc; NMB, Inc. [name correction 
replacing New Hampshire Ball Bearing (NHBB)]; Northwestern, Inc.; 
Penske Corporation; Pneudraulics, Inc.; Pocino Foods Company; Quaker 
City Plating & Silversmith, LP; Rooke Corp. (dba Aviation Equipment); 
Santa Fe Braun, Inc; Tech-Graphic, Inc.; and Unidynamics/Phoenix, Inc.
    This amended settlement requires the additional settling parties in 
categories (a) and (b) to pay $12,625,000 into Qualified Settlement 
Funds, as provided for in Paragraph 27(a) of the Consent Decree. The 
parties in category (c) are parties that have previously resolved their 
liability within the group of generators at the Omega Chemical 
Corporation facility, and are not required to pay money to the United 
States and DTSC.
    The publication of this notice opens a period for public comment on 
the Consent Decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and 
should refer to United States of America and State of California on 
behalf of the Department of Toxic Substances Control and Toxic 
Substances Control Account vs. Abex Aerospace et al., D.J. Ref. No. 90-
11-3-06529/10. All comments must be submitted no later than thirty (30) 
days after the publication date of this notice. Comments may be 
submitted either by email or by mail:

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         To submit comments:                     Send them to:
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By email............................  [email protected].
By mail.............................  Assistant Attorney General, U.S.
                                       DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611,
                                       Washington, DC 20044-7611.
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    As provided by RCRA, a public meeting will be held on the proposed 
settlement if requested in writing by fifteen (15) days after the 
publication date of this notice. Requests for a public meeting may be 
made by contacting the EPA Remedial Project Manager for OU2, Wayne 
Praskins, by email at [email protected]. If a public meeting is 
requested, information about the date and time of the meeting will be 
published in the local newspaper, The Whittier Daily, and will be sent 
to persons on the EPA Omega Superfund Site mailing list.
    During the public comment period, the lodged proposed Amendment and 
the previously approved Consent Decree may be examined and downloaded 
at this Justice Department Web site: https://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. We will provide a paper copy of the Consent Decree and 
the proposed Amendment upon written request and payment of reproduction 
costs. Please mail your request and payment to: Consent Decree Library, 
U.S. DOJ--ENRD, P.O. Box 7611, Washington, DC 20044-7611.
    Please enclose a check or money order for $88.25 (25 cents per page 
reproduction cost) for the Consent Decree and the proposed Amendment, 
payable to the United States Treasury. For a paper copy of the Consent 
Decree and the proposed Amendment without the appendices and signature 
pages, the cost is $23.25. For a paper copy of the Amendment only 
(without the original Consent Decree), together with its signature 
pages, the cost is $1.75.

Henry S. Friedman,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2017-24825 Filed 11-15-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4410-15-P