[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 242 (Wednesday, December 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Page 81521]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27680]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Proposed Second Amendment to Consent Decree 
Under the Clean Water Act

    On December 11, 2020, the Department of Justice lodged a proposed 
Second Amendment to Consent Decree (``Second Amendment'') with the 
United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio in the 
lawsuit entitled United States and the State of Ohio v. Northeast Ohio 
Regional Sewer District, Civil Action No. 1:10-cv-02895.
    The United States, on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, and the State of Ohio, on behalf of the Ohio Environmental 
Protection Agency (``Ohio EPA''), filed a complaint under the Clean 
Water Act asserting claims related to discharges from the Northeast 
Ohio Regional Sewer District's (``NEORSD'') municipal wastewater and 
sewer system. The United States sought civil penalties and injunctive 
relief.
    On July 7, 2011, the Court entered a Consent Decree that required 
that NEORSD implement injunctive measures and required payment of civil 
penalties. The injunctive relief in the Consent Decree requires, inter 
alia, that the District undertake an extensive program of improvements 
in its combined sewer overflow control infrastructure and that it 
significantly expand the capacity of its three wastewater treatment 
plants in order to increase the ability of the plants to treat 
increased sewer flows during wet weather.
    The proposed Second Amendment relates primarily to work that 
remains to be completed at the Southerly and Westerly wastewater 
treatment plants (Control Measures 5 and 3 specified in Appendix 1) and 
proposed changes to the structure of the improvements required by 
Control Measures 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 20, 21, 22, and 24 of Appendix 1. 
The proposed modifications are reflected in changes to the language of 
the Consent Decree, Appendix 1, and Appendix 2.
    With regard to Southerly, the Consent Decree required two 
significant upgrades to increase the Southerly plant's peak wet weather 
capacity: Construction of a 125 MGD CEHRT facility and expansion of 
secondary treatment capacity from 400 MGD to 615 MGD. To address the 
District's concerns about constructability and operability of the 
required expansion of secondary treatment capacity, the proposed 
modification instead requires the expansion of the secondary system to 
480 MGD and an expansion of the capacity of the CEHRT to 255 MGD.
    With regard to Westerly, the Consent Decree, in Control Measure 3 
of Appendix 1, requires the District to modify and expand an existing 
wet weather storage and sedimentation facility (the ``CSOTF'') to 
provide CEHRT treatment for flows up to 411 MGD. The Parties recognized 
after entry of the Consent Decree that site space constraints, upstream 
hydraulic limitations, and the potential for CEHRT infrastructure 
flooding requires the occasional use of a center channel diversion in 
such a manner that limits the District's ability to treat 411 MGD at 
all times and therefore propose to address the limitations of the CEHRT 
treatment capacity by detailing the infrastructure to be constructed 
and circumstances under which the use of the center channel diversion 
is allowed to be used.
    Appendix 2 of the Consent Decree presents the requirements for 
post-construction monitoring of the control measures that the District 
is required to implement. For both Southerly and Westerly CEHRT 
systems, the Parties decided to add to Appendix 2 detailed descriptions 
of the processes and methods for conducting post-construction 
monitoring of the CEHRT systems instead of those details being 
addressed through a separate deliverable submitted by the District and 
subject to Plaintiffs' review and approval.
    The proposed modification also updates the Notice requirements of 
the Consent Decree and makes replacements to Paragraph 18 of the 
Consent Decree based on the Southerly and Westerly modifications 
described above.
    The publication of this notice opens a period for public comment on 
the Second Amendment. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant 
Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, and 
should refer to United States and the State of Ohio v. Northeast Ohio 
Regional Sewer District, D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-08177/1. 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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    During the public comment period, the Second Amendment may be 
examined and downloaded at this Justice Department website: https://www.justice.gov/enrd/consent-decrees. We will provide a paper copy of 
the Second 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 $ 59.00 (25 cents per 
page reproduction cost) payable to the United States Treasury.

Patricia McKenna,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2020-27680 Filed 12-15-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-P