Notice of Lodging of Consent Decrees Under the Clean Water Act and the Rivers and Harbors Act

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Consent Decrees Under the Clean Water Act

and the Rivers and Harbors Act

Under 28 CFR 50.7, notice is hereby given that on April 23, 1999,

three proposed Consent Decrees in United States v. The Sanitary

District of Hammond, et al., Civil Action No. 2:93 CV 225 JM, were

lodged with the United States District Court for the Northern District

of Indiana.

The United States and the State of Indiana asserted claims in this

case under the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., and the Rivers

and Harbors Act of 1899, 33 U.S.C. 403 and 407, against the Sanitary

District of Hammond (``HSD''), the City of Hammond, Indiana (the

``City''), the Town of Munster, Indiana (the ``Town''), and several

other defendants that send wastewater to HSD's wastewater treatment

plant. The case was resolved as to the defendants other than HSD, the

City, and the Town by Consent Decrees entered by the Court in 1995. The

settlements lodged today, if entered, will fully resolve this action

against all of the remaining defendants.

The proposed HSD Consent Decree includes injunctive relief to

redress HSD's effluent limit violations, unpermitted discharges,

combined sewer overflow violations, noncompliance with closure

requirements regarding sludge lagoons at the HSD treatment plant, and

inflow problems that interfere with HSD's treatment processes. In

addition, HSD will play $2.1 million toward a fund established under

the prior settlements for remediation of contaminated sediments in the

Grand Calumet River and $225,000 in civil penalties to be split equally

by the United States and the State of Indiana.

The proposed Consent Decrees with the City and the Town require

them to take action on any further resolutions adopted by HSD modifying

user fees or pretreatment requirements within set time periods,

redressing delays that have hampered HSD's ability to implement

improvements in its operations. In addition, the City and Town will

implement, in conjunction with HSD, a program to eliminate inflow to

HSD's collection system from residential down spouts, remedying a major

source of inflow to the system. Finally, the City and Town settlements

require these defendants to submit to the U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency and the Indiana Department of Environmental Management a report

specifically identifying those portions of the HSD sewerage collection

system that each owns or operates.

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

days from the date of this publication comments relating to the Consent

Decrees. 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 United States v. The

Sanitary District of Hammond, et al., D.J. Ref. 90-5-1-1-3308A.

The Consent Decrees may be examined at the Office of the United

States Attorney, Northern District of Indiana, 1001 Main Street, Suite

A, Dyer, Indiana 46311, at U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Blvd.,

Chicago, Illinois 60604, and at the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G

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

the Decrees may be obtained in person or by mail from the Consent

Decree Library, 1120 G Street, NW., 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20005. In

requesting copies, please enclose a check in the amount of $22.00 (25

cents per page reproduction cost) payable to the Consent Decree

Library.

Joel M. Gross,

Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural

Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 99-11268 Filed 5-4-99; 8:45 am]

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