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

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URL: https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A99-11268

## Record

- **Collection:** Federal Register
- **Document type:** Notice
- **Published:** May 5, 1999
- **Citation:** 64 FR 24172

## Text

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]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M

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Source: Frix Law Library, https://www.frixlaw.com/law-library/documents/fr%3A99-11268. Public record. Not legal advice.