[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 18 (Thursday, January 27, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4438-4439]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-1880]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of lodging of consent decree pursuant to the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act and the 
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act

    Notice is hereby given that a proposed consent decree in In re: 
Cuyahoga Equipment Corporation, et al., Case Nos. 86-12206, et al. 
(PCB) (Jointly Administered) (Bkcy. S.D.N.Y.), was lodged on January 
11, 2000, with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern 
District of New York. The proposed consent decree would settle a claim 
asserted in this Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceeding by the United States 
on behalf of the United States Environmental Protection Agency 
(``EPA'') for reimbursement of post-petition administrative expenses in 
the nature of environmental response costs incurred with respect to the 
Publicker Industries, Inc. Superfund Site in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 
(the ``Publicker Site''). The United States, on behalf of EPA, alleged 
in a separate federal court action that Cuyahoga Wrecking Corporation 
and Overland Corporation, two of the debtors involved in the bankruptcy 
proceeding, were liable as owners and/or operators of the Publicker 
Site under Section 107(a)(1) and (2) of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response Compensation and Liability Act (``CERCLA''), 42 U.S.C. 
Sec. 9607(a)(1), (2) for, inter alia, reimbursement of the United 
States' response costs incurred in connection with the Publicker Site. 
United States and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania v. Publicker Industries, 
Inc., et al., Civ. No. 90-7984 (E.D. Pa.). Through that litigation and 
other cost recovery efforts, the United States previously recovered and 
expects to recover $16.85 million of the $21.4 million in costs it 
incurred at the Site, leaving unreimbursed costs, exclusive of 
prejudgment interest, of approximately $4.55 million.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, the United States 
will recover from the Chapter 11 bankruptcy trustee for the debtors' 
estate the sum of $1 million, to be paid to the EPA Hazardous 
Substances Superfund.

[[Page 4439]]

    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 Environment and Natural Resources Division, 
Department of Justice, Washington, D.C. 20530, and should refer to In 
re: Cuyahoga Equipment Corporation, et al., DOJ Ref. No. 90-11-3-442. 
Commenters may request an opportunity for a public meeting in the 
affected area, in accordance with Section 7003(d) of the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 6973(d).
    The proposed consent decree may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, 100 
Church Street, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10007; the Region III 
Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, located at 1650 Arch 
Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19103. A copy of the proposed 
consent order may also be obtained by mail from the Department of 
Justice Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, Washington, D.C. 20044-
7611. In requesting a copy, please refer to the referenced case and 
enclose a check in the amount of $5.25 (25 cents per page reproduction 
costs) payable to the Consent Decree Library.

Joel Gross,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 00-1880 Filed 1-26-00; 8:45 am]
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