Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under the Clean Air Act

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE

Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under the Clean Air Act

Notice of hereby given that on October 29, 1999, the United States

filed a proposed Consent Decree in United States v. USX Corporation,

Civ. Action No. 99-1783, in the United States District Court for the

Western District of Pennsylvania.

The United States' claims resolved by the Decree with USX

Corporation (``USX'') are described in a Complaint filed

contemporaneously with the Decree. The claims arise out of USX's

alleged violations of Section 113(b) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C.

7413(b), occurring at USX's Edgar Thomson Steel Mill in Braddock,

Pennsylvania (the ``Edgar Thomson Plant''). The Complaint seeks

injunctive relief and civil penalties for USX's alleged violations of

the federally-enforceable Pennsylvania State Implementation Plan (SIP).

Specifically, the Complaint alleges that, in 1996 and 1997, visible

emissions from the scrubber stack at the Edgar Thomson Plant exceeded

the opacity limits established in the Allegheny County portion of the

Pennsylvania SIP. Allegheny County is a co-signatory to the Consent

Decree, and a plaintiff-intervenor in the Complaint.

Under the terms of the settlement, USX will pay a civil penalty of

$550,000 and will undertake implementation of five Supplemental

Environmental Projects (``SEPs'') worth over $1.6 million. These SEPs

include: (1) The installation of a continuous caster flux baghouse to

capture fluoride in USX's wastewater stream; (2) the injection of

natural gas into the liquid steel vessels to reduce the amount of

airborne emissions; (3) pavement of plant roadways and upgrade of its

scrap metal storage area to reduce emissions; (4) enhancements to its

gas cleaning equipment; and (5) replacement of numerous electrical

transformers containing a dielectric fluid with polychlorinated

biphenyl (PCB) concentration in excess of 50 parts per million.

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

days from the date of this publication comments relating to the

proposed consent decree. Comments should be addressed to the Assistant

Attorney General of the Environmental and Natural Resources Division,

Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20530, and should refer to United

States v. USX Corporation, DOJ Ref. 90-5-2-1-2175.

The proposed consent decree may be examined at either U.S. EPA

Region III, 1650 Arch Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103-2029. A

copy of the proposed consent decree may be obtained in person or by

mail from the Consent Decree Library, Department of Justice,

Environmental Enforcement Section, P.O. Box 7611, Ben Franklin Station,

Washington, DC 20044. In requesting a copy of the Consent Decree,

please enclose a check in the amount of $12.25 (25 cents per page

reproduction cost) for the Consent Decree alone, and $75.50 for the

Consent Decree with all exhibits attached. Checks must be payable to

the Consent Decree Library.

Joel M. Gross,

Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural

Resources Division.

[FR Doc. 99-29511 Filed 11-10-99; 8:45 am]

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