[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 53 (Tuesday, March 18, 2008)]
[Notices]
[Pages 14488-14489]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-5380]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, notice is 
hereby given that on March 11, 2008, a proposed Consent Decree in 
United States v. City of Jacksonville, Florida, Civil Action No. 308-
CV-257 (J-20TEM), was lodged with the United States District Court for 
the Middle District of Florida, Jacksonville Division.
    The Consent Decree represents the settlement of claims brought by 
the United States pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The complaint contained 
claims seeking injunctive relief and the recovery of costs incurred by 
the United States in connection with the release and threatened release 
of hazardous substances from facilities known as the Brown's Dump Site 
and the Jacksonville Ash Site, which are located within the City of 
Jacksonville.
    For approximately fifty years, the City operated two incinerators 
and a landfill resulting in widespread contamination in and around 
Jacksonville. The sites are contaminated with incinerator ash, which 
contains metals, arsenic, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and dioxin, among 
other things.
    The Jacksonville Ash site (JAS) includes three separate locations 
of former waste processing and/or disposal facilities operated or used 
by the City. The JAS consists of two former city incinerators at Forest 
Street and at 5th and Cleveland Streets, and a former dump site that is 
now occupied by the Lonnie C. Miller, Sr. Park. All three locations are 
in the northwest portion of Jacksonville in Duval County, Florida.
    The Brown's Dump Site consists of the former Mary McLeod Bethune 
Elementary School, an electrical substation of the Jacksonville 
Electric Authority, surrounding single family homes and apartment 
buildings.
    In August 2006, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency selected 
cleanup plans for the two sites. The plans require soil excavation at 
residential properties, schools and parks, and the installation of a 
two-foot layer of clean soil. Excavated soil will be solidified and 
stabilized in accordance with federal regulations, as needed, prior to 
off-site disposal at an appropriate landfill. The plans will provide 
for various measures to protect

[[Page 14489]]

human health and the environment. Remediation will also be conducted at 
streams and creeks, and groundwater will be monitored to ensure 
protection of public health and the environment. In addition, the 
Consent Decree requires the City to reimburse the United States for 
costs incurred in connection with the Sites.
    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, 
Environment and Natural Resources Division, and either e-mailed to 
[email protected] or mailed to P.O. Box 7611, U.S. 
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to 
United States v. City of Jacksonville, Florida, D.J. Ref. 90-11-3-
08080.
    The Consent Decree may be examined at U.S. EPA Region 4, Atlanta 
Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. During the 
public comment period, the Consent Decree may also be examined on the 
following Department of Justice Web site, http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decrees.html. A copy of the Consent Decree may also be 
obtained by mail from the Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, U.S. 
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611 or by faxing or e-
mailing a request to Tonia Fleetwood ([email protected]), fax 
no. (202) 514-0097, phone confirmation number (202) 514-1547. In 
requesting a copy from the Consent Decree Library, please enclose a 
check in the amount of $12.25 (for the Consent Decree only and $175.50 
for the Consent Decree and all exhibits thereto) (25 cents per page 
reproduction cost) payable to the U.S. Treasury or, if by e-mail or 
fax, forward a check in that amount to the Consent Decree Library at 
the stated address.

Henry S. Friedman,
Assistant Section Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment 
and Natural Resources Division.
 [FR Doc. E8-5380 Filed 3-17-08; 8:45 am]
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