Notice of Lodging of Settlement Agreement in Re Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Settlement Agreement in Re Eagle-Picher

Industries, Inc.

Notice is hereby given that a proposed Settlement Agreement among

the United States, the States of Michigan, Oklahoma, and Arizona and

Debtor Eagle-Picher Industries, Inc. and certain of its subsidiaries

was lodged on March 28, 1995, with the United States Bankruptcy Court

for the Southern District of Ohio in In re Eagle-Picher Industries,

Inc., No. 1-91-00100. Under the Agreement, the Debtors agree to an

allowed general unsecured claim for the United States of $41,016,000 in

the Debtors' bankruptcy proceeding for response costs and natural

resource damages under the Comprehensive Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 9601 et seq.,

at the following twenty-three (23) sites: The Albion Sheridan Site in

Albion, Michigan; the Auto-Ion Site in Kalamazoo, Michigan; the Carver

Scrap Salvage Site in Carterville, Missouri; the Cedartown Site in

Cedartown, Georgia; the Cemetery Site in Oakland County, Michigan; the

Cherokee County Site in Cherokee County, Kansas; the Fisher-Calo Site

in Kingsbury, Indiana; the Ft. Wayne Reduction Site in Ft. Wayne,

Indiana; the Great Lakes Asphalt Site in Boone County, Indiana; the

Howe Valley Site in Elizabethtown, Kentucky; the Laskin/Poplar Site in

Jefferson, Ohio; the Northside Sanitary Landfill Site in Zionville,

Indiana; the Oronogo-Duenweg Mining Belt (Jasper County) Site in Jasper

County, Missouri; the Rasmussen Dump Site in Livingston County,

Michigan; the Rose Township Site in Oakland County, Michigan; the

Solvents Recovery Site in Southington, Connecticut; the Springfield

Township Site in Oakland County, Michigan; the Tar Creek Site in Ottawa

County, Oklahoma; the Thermo-Chem Site in Muskegon, Michigan; the

Transicoil Site in Worcester, Pennsylvania; the Verona Wellfield/Thomas

Solvent Site in Battle Creek, Michigan; the Wayne Waste Oil/Wayne

Reclamation Site in Columbia City, Indiana; and the Xtron Site in

Blandings, Utah. The Settlement Agreement includes a covenant not to

sue for these sites as described in the Agreement under Sections 106

and 107 of CERCLA and Section 7003 of the Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (``RCRA''), 42 U.S.C. 6973. The Settlement Agreement also

provides that certain obligations and liabilities arising from

prepetition acts, omissions, or conduct of Eagle-Picher at any

[[Page 17574]] Additional Sites not owned by the debtors will be

discharged under the bankruptcy laws but will be liquidated and

satisfied as general unsecured claims if and when the United States or

the States undertake enforcement activities in the ordinary course.

Finally, the Settlement Agreement provides the United States with an

allowed claim of $1,176,000 for civil penalties for violations of the

Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., at an Eagle-Picher facility in

Joplin, Missouri.

The Department of Justice will receive comments relating to the

proposed Settlement Agreement for 30 days following the publication of

this Notice. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant Attorney

General of the Environment and Natural Resources Division, Department

of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should refer to In re Eagle-

Picher Industries, Inc., et al., D.J. Ref. No. 90-11-3-747. Commenters

may request an opportunity for a public meeting in the affected area,

in accordance with Section 7003(d) of RCRA.

The proposed Settlement Agreement may be examined at the Office of

the United States Attorney for the Southern District of Ohio, U.S. Post

Office & Courthouse, 5th & Walnut Streets, Room 220, Cincinnati, Ohio

45202; the Region V Office of the United States Environmental

Protection Agency, 77 West Jackson Street, Chicago, Illinois 60604; and

at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street NW., 4th Floor,

Washington, DC 20005 (202-624-0892). A copy of the proposed Settlement

Agreement may be obtained in person or by mail from the Consent Decree

Library, 1120 G Street NW., 4th Floor, Washington, DC 20005. In

requesting a copy of the Settlement Agreement without attachments,

please enclose a check in the amount of $13.50 (25 cents per page for

reproduction costs), payable to the Consent Decree Library. In

requesting a copy of the Settlement Agreement with attachments, please

enclose a check in the amount of $33.00 (25 cents per page for

reproduction costs), payable to the Consent Decree Library.

Joel M. Gross,

Acting Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment

and Natural Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 95-8484 Filed 4-5-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-01-M