Notice of Lodging of Consent Judgment Pursuant to Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Consent Judgment Pursuant to Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA)

In accordance with Department of Justice policy, notice is hereby

given that on November 24, 1998, a proposed Consent Judgment in United

States v. General Motors Corporation, et al., Civil No. 98-CV-10368 BC,

was lodged in the United States District Court for the Eastern District

of Michigan. The Complaint filed by the United States pursuant to

section 107 of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9607, sought to recover damages for

injuries to natural resources in and around the Saginaw River and

Saginaw Bay, as a result of releases of polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs) from several facilities owned or operated by General Motors

Corporation, the City of Saginaw, the City of Bay City, and the

Michigan Department of Transportation. The State of Michigan and the

Saginaw Chippewa Tribe have also filed actions in the United States

District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan seeking damages

from these defendants for injuries to natural resources in Saginaw

River and Bay as a result of releases from defendants' facilities.

The proposed Consent Judgment would resolve claims asserted against

defendants in all of the above-referenced civil actions. Under the

proposed Consent Judgment, settling parties will: (1) Pay up to $10.89

million into a fund that will be used to finance the dredging and

disposal of PCB-contaminated sediments from designated areas in the

Saginaw River in accordance with a Dredge Plan approved by the natural

resource Trustees; (2) convey certain ecologically valuable properties

to the Federal, State and Tribal Trustees, who will manage the

properties for the benefit of natural resources; (3) perform specified

natural resource restoration activities, including measures to restore

coastal wetland or lakeland prairie conditions on certain properties

conveyed to the State Trustee and measures to restore fish habitat in

the Tobico Marsh; (4) pay approximately $3.1 million into a fund that

will be used for monitoring and other activities to evaluate the

effectiveness of the activities undertaken pursuant to the Consent

Judgment, or for other purposes consistent with CERCLA; (5) grant the

United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) a 99 year lease in

property comprising the Greenpoint Environmental Learning Center (with

an option to renew for an additional 99 years, rent free) and pay

$520,000 to USF&WS for use at the Greenpoint Environmental Learning

Center in restoring, replacing or acquiring the equivalent of injured

natural resources; (6) pay a total of $2 million to Federal and State

Trustees for past and future natural resource damage assessment and

restoration costs; and (6) establish certain recreational areas. In

addition, pursuant to previous agreements in principle among parties to

the settlement, defendants have previously paid $260,000 into an

account used to finance design of the sediment dredging and disposal

work contemplated under the Consent Judgment.

The Department of Justice will receive for a period of thirty (30)

days from the date of this publication comments

[[Page 65813]]

concerning the proposed Consent Judgment. Comments should be addressed

to the Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources

Division, U.S. Department of Justice, P.O. Box 7611, Ben Franklin

Station, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to United States

v. General Motors Corporation, et al., D.J. Ref. No. 90-11-2-1041.

The proposed Consent Judgment may be examined at any of the

following offices: (1) the United States Attorney for the Eastern

District of Michigan, 203 Federal Building, 106 Washington Street, Bay

City, MI 48708 (contact Assistant United States Attorney Michael

Hluchaniuk); (2) the United States Fish and Wildlife Service, East

Lansing Field Office, 2651 Coolidge Road, East Lansing, Michigan 48823

(contact Lisa Williams); and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G

Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005, (202) 624-0892. Copies of

the proposed Consent Judgment may be obtained in person or by mail from

the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington,

DC 20005, telephone (202) 624-0892. For a copy of the Consent Judgment,

please enclose a check in the amount of $58.00 (25 cents per page

reproduction costs) payable to Consent Decree Library.

Bruce S. Gelber,

Deputy Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment

and Natural Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 98-31861 Filed 11-27-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4410-15-M