Notice of Lodging of the Consent Decree Under the Clean Water Act as Amended by the Oil Pollution Act

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

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

as Amended by the Oil Pollution Act

Under 28 CFR 50.7 notice is hereby given that on September 28,

1999, a proposed Consent Decree in United States and State of Louisiana

v. Equilon Pipeline Company LLC, Civil Action No. 99-2961, was lodged

with the United States District Court for the Eastern District of

Louisiana.

In this action the United States on behalf of the National Oceanic

Atmospheric Administration, the Department of Interior's Fish and

Wildlife Service, and the Coast Guard; and the State of Louisiana on

behalf of the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator, Department of

Environmental Quality, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries, and

Department of Natural Resources, sought recovery of natural resource

damages, removal costs, and other expenses arising out of the May 16,

1997, discharge of oil from a pipeline located in Lake Barre,

Terrebonne Parish, Louisiana. The proposed Consent Decree provides that

Equilon Pipeline Company LLC, successor corporation to Texaco Pipeline

Inc. by way of merger, will perform a restoration project consisting of

planting marsh grasses on East Timbalier Island and will pay state

response costs and past state and federal assessment costs amounting to

approximately $480,000. Equilon also will pay future assessment and

restoration costs to the state and federal agencies.

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

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

Decree. 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 and

the State of Louisiana v. Equilon Pipeline Company LLC, D.J. Ref. 90-5-

1-1-06628.

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

States Attorney, 501 Magazine Street, Suite 210, New Orleans, Louisiana

and at the Louisiana Oil Spill Coordinator's Office, 625 North 4th

Street, Suite 800, Baton Rouge, Louisiana. A copy of the Consent Decree

may also be obtained by mail from the Department of Justice Consent

Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, Washington, DC 20044-7611. In requesting

a copy, please enclose a check in the amount of $42.50 (25 cents per

page reproduction cost) payable to the Consent Decree Library. In

requesting a copy exclusive of exhibits, i.e., without the: (1) Final

Damage Assessment and Restoration Plan, (2) Grant of Particular Use for

Construction, and (3) Monitoring Plan, please enclose check in the

amount of $17.75 (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. 99-26108 Filed 10-6-99; 8:45 am]

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