[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 227 (Friday, November 24, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 70610-70611]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-29979]


=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Stipulated Settlement Order Pursuant To the 
Clean Air Act

    Notice is hereby given that on November 9, 2000, a proposed 
stipulated settlement order in United States v. The Detroit Edison 
Company, Civil Action No. 99-CV-70171 (consolidated with The Detroit 
Edison Company v. Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, et al., 
Civil Action No. 98-CV-74129), was lodged with the United States 
District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan.
    In this action, the United States sought injunctive relief and 
civil penalties under Section 113(b) of the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. 
7413(b), for violations of the Clean Air Act's Prevention of 
Significant Deterioration (``PSD'') regulations, incorporated into the 
federally approved Michigan State Implementation Plan (``SIP''), the 
Nonattainment New Source Review (``NSR'') regulations, and the New 
Source Performance Standards

[[Page 70611]]

(``NSPS'') at The Detroit Edison Company's Conners Creek Power Plant in 
Detroit, Michigan. Specifically, the United States' Compliant alleged 
that The Detroit Edison Company (i) failed to obtain a PSD permit prior 
to engaging in extensive renovation activities that Detroit Edison 
undertook in April through June of 1998 at its Conner Creek Power Plant 
in Detroit, Michigan, in violation of 42 U.S.C. 7475, 40 CFR 52.21, and 
Mich. Rule 201.; (ii) failed to obtain a Nonattainment NSR permit for 
those same activities, in violation of 42 U.S.C. 7503, 40 CFR 51.165, 
and Mich. Rules 201 and 221.; and (iii) failed to provide U.S. EPA with 
notifications required under Subpart A of the NSPS prior to the 
renovation activities, in violation of 40 CFR 60.7(a)(1), 60.7(a)(2), 
and 60.7(a)(3).
    Under the proposed stipulated settlement order, Detroit Edison will 
pay a civil penalty of $135,000 to the United States, $135,000 to the 
State of Michigan, $135,000 to Wayne County, and attorneys fees and 
costs of $45,000 to various citizen groups that intervened in the 
consolidated actions, to resolve the claims brought under the Clean Air 
Act and the Michigan SIP. During the pendency of this case, Detroit 
Edison converted its coal-fired boilers at the Conners Creek facility 
to natural gas-fired boilers; the conversion satisfied the injunctive 
relief claims brought in the case.
    The Department of Justice will receive, for a period of thirty (30) 
days from the date of this publication, comments relating to the 
proposed stipulated settlement order. Comments should be addressed to 
the Assistant Attorney General for the Environment and Natural 
Resources Division, Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530, and 
should refer to United States v. The Detroit Edison Company, DOJ Ref. 
#90-5-2-1-06726.
    The proposed stipulated settlement order may be examined at the 
office of the United States Attorney for the Eastern District of 
Michigan, 211 W. Fort St., Suite 2300, Detroit, Michigan 48226-3211, 
and at U.S. EPA Region 5, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Chicago, IL 60604. 
A copy of the proposed consent decree may also be obtained by mail from 
the Department of Justice Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, 
Washington, DC 20044. In requesting a copy please refer to the 
referenced case and enclose a check in the amount of $5.00 (25 cents 
per page reproduction costs), payable to the Consent Decree Library.

Bruce S. Gelber,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 00-29979 Filed 11-22-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M