[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 139 (Wednesday, July 19, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Page 44808]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-18155]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Oil Pollution
Act of 1990
Notice is hereby given that a proposed consent decree in the action
entitled United States and State of Rhode Island v. EW Holding Corp.,
Civil Action No. 00332T, was lodged on July 6, 2000, with the United
States District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The proposed
consent decree resolves the claims of the United States under
subsections 1002(b)(1) and (b)(2) of the Oil Pollution Act of 1990
(``OPA''), 33 U.S.C. 2702 (b)(1) and (b)(2), for removal costs and
damages, against EW Holding Corp. (as successor to Thor Towing
Corporation and Odin Marine Corporation), K-Sea Transportation Corp.
(as successor to Eklof Marine Corporation), West of England Ship Owners
Mutual Insurance Association (Luxembourg), and Gregory R. Aitken
(``Settling Defendants''), in connection with the oil spill that
occurred, on January 19, 1996, in the waters of Block Island Sound,
State of Rhode Island, that resulted from the grounding of the barge
North Cape and the tug Scandia (the ``North Cape Oil Spill''). The
proposed consent decree also resolves the claims of the United States
against the officers, directors, and employees of the corporations
listed above to the extent that their liability arises from actions
taken in their official capacities as officers, directors, or employees
of these corporations. The proposed consent decree also resolves
similar claims filed by the State of Rhode Island and Providence
Plantations (``State'').
The proposed settlement resolves the claims of the United States
and the State filed in a complaint on July 6, 2000. The complaint
alleges that Odin Marine Corp. was the owner of the tank barge North
Cape at the time of the North Cape oil spill, that Thor Towing Corp.
was the owner of the tug Scandia at the time of the spill, and that
Eklof Marine Corp. was the operator of both the tank barge North Cape
and the tug Scandia at the time of the spill. West of England Ship
Owners Mutual Insurance Association (Luxembourg) provided insurance
coverage with respect to the spill, and Gregory R. Aitken was the
Captain of the tug Scandia at the time of the spill. The complaint
seeks damages for injury to, destruction of, loss of, or loss of use
of, natural resources, including the reasonable costs of assessing the
damage, resulting from the North Cape Oil Spill.
Pursuant to the proposed consent decree, the Settling Defendants
will implement a lobster restoration program that will involve the v-
notching and restocking of 1.248 million female legal-size lobsters
into the waters of Block Island Sound by December 31, 2004. In
addition, the Settling Defendants will make a payment to the United
States and the State in the amount of $8 million, which will be used by
the natural resource Trustees (the United States National Oceanic and
Atmospheric Administration (``NOAA''), the United States Department of
the Interior (``DOI''), and the Rhode Island Department of
Environmental Management (``RIDEM'')), to implement the following
restoration projects: shellfish restoration (quahog transplanting),
salt pond land acquisition, loon restoration (acquisition of land or
easements to protect loon nests), sea bird restoration (acquisition of
land or easements to protect eider nests), piping plover restoration
project, and a fish run project. Finally, the Settling Defendants have
paid the Trustees the following amounts toward their costs of
assessment that have not previously been reimbursed: $2,714,940.20 to
NOAA, $358,474.60 to DOI, and $250,000 to RIDEM.
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, Environment and Natural Resources Division,
Department of Justice, 960 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW., Washington, DC.
20530, and should refer to United States and State of Rhode Island v.
EW Holding Corp., DOJ Ref. Number 90-5-1-1-4337.
The proposed consent decree may be examined at the offices of the
United States Attorney's Office for the District of Rhode Island, 50
Kennedy Plaza, 8th Floor, Providence, R.I. (contact Michael Iannotti,
401-538-5477). A copy of the proposed consent decree may be obtained by
mail from the Department of Justice Consent Decree Library, PO Box
7611, Washington, DC, 20044. In requesting a copy, please refer to the
referenced case and enclose a check in the amount of $18 (25 cents per
page reproduction costs).
Bruce S. Gelber,
Deputy Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment
and Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 00-18155 Filed 7-18-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M