[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