[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 83 (Friday, April 29, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Page 25548]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-09212]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


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

    On April 19, 2022, 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 State of Ohio v. City of Toledo, 
Ohio, Civil Action No. 3:91-7646.
    The Court entered a consent decree in this case on December 16, 
2002, which resolved violations the United States and State of Ohio 
alleged under the Clean Water Act and Toledo's wastewater treatment 
discharge permit for the City of Toledo's (the ``City'') discharges 
from the City's treatment plant and sewer system. The consent decree, 
as subsequently amended in 2011, required Toledo, pertinent to the 
Second Amendment to: (1) Expand treatment plant capacity to handle the 
greater amounts of sewage combined with storm water or snowmelt 
arriving at the treatment plant during such wet weather periods; (2) 
implement a Long Term Control Plan to reduce the discharges of combined 
stormwater and sanitary sewage from the portions of Toledo's sewer 
system known as the City's combined sewer system, which among other 
things, requires Toledo to construct extensions to tunnels that store 
such combined sewage during periods of rain or snowmelt for transport 
to the City's wastewater treatment plant following such periods; and 
(3) study the effectiveness of pathogen removal in the wet weather 
system Toledo constructed at its wastewater treatment plant pursuant to 
the consent decree.
    The proposed Second Amendment requires the City to construct 
separate storm sewers instead of the Swan Creek North Tunnel Extension. 
The storm sewer construction is intended to reduce congestion in 
Toledo's combined sewer system more than the tunnel extension would, 
resulting in fewer combined sewage discharges and less total volume of 
sewer overflows into Swan Creek. Second, the Second Amendment 
authorizes changes in one of the discharge locations from the combined 
sewer system located near Jamie Farr Park after three combined sewer 
outfalls are combined into one. Both locations are at the Maumee River; 
they are about 0.4 miles apart. The original planned consolidated 
outfall was located southeast of the intersection of Summit Street and 
Galena Street, while the location of the consolidated outfall under 
this amendment is located southeast of the intersection of Summit 
Street and Columbus Street. The original planned consolidated outfall 
was located southeast of the intersection of Summit Street and Galena 
Street, while the new one is located southeast of the intersection of 
Summit Street and Columbus Street. Third, the amendment allows the City 
to conclude the pathogen removal study early, after the parties 
realized that undertaking any additional study would not provide 
additional information pertinent to pathogen removal issues.
    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 State of Ohio v. City of Toledo, D.J. 
Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-3554. 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: http://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 $4 (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. 2022-09212 Filed 4-28-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-P