[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 219 (Monday, November 15, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 69704-69705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-28599]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Notice of Lodging of Second Proposed Amendment to Consent Decree
Under the Clean Water Act
Notice is hereby given that on November 8, 2010, a proposed Second
Amendment to 2006 Consent Decree, pertaining to United States and State
of Indiana v. City of Indianapolis, Civ. No. 1:06-cv-1456, was lodged
with the United States District Court for the Southern District of
Indiana.
In the original action, the United States sought civil penalties
and injunctive relief for alleged violations of Sections 301 and 402 of
the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. 1319 and 1342, in connection with the
City's operation of its municipal wastewater and sewer system. In
December 2006, the Court entered a Consent Decree which requires the
City to reduce Combined Sewer Overflows (CSO) by, among other things,
performing certain activities and constructing thirty-one (31) Combined
Sewer Overflow (CSO) Control Measures in accordance with the City's
Long Term Control Plan (LTCP). CSO Control Measure 16, as set forth in
the 2006 Consent Decree, required the City to construct a shallow
interceptor sewer having a total capacity of 24 million gallons.
On April 23, 2009, the Court approved and entered a First Amendment
to the 2006 Consent Decree, which authorized the City to replace the
shallow interceptor with a 54-million gallon capacity Deep Rock Tunnel
Connector (DRTC), which allowed the City to avoid several environmental
and right-of-way impediments to the project. The DRTC, as conceived,
would have improved the overall level of control to be achieved by
Indianapolis by increasing the system's storage capacity by
approximately 30 million gallons, and reducing the system's projected
annual CSO discharge volume from 600 million gallons to 480 million
gallons. The change also would have allowed the City to capture
hundreds of millions of gallons of raw sewage discharges from the
City's largest CSO (CSO 008), three-and-one-half years earlier than
would have occurred without the amendment.
While the First Amendment authorized the modification of CSO
Control Measure 16, the proposed Second Amendment is much more
extensive, and would authorize the modification of CSO Control Measures
16, 18, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 29, 30, and 31; the elimination of CSO
Control Measures 27 and 28, and the addition of CSO Control measure 32.
As a result of the proposed changes, the City is now expected to reduce
the amount of the total annual discharge to about 414 million gallons,
capture raw sewage discharges from another CSO earlier than originally
anticipated, allow the City to achieve a flexibility that was missing
from its original system design, and reduce the cost of the project by
approximately $444 million.
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 and State of Indiana v. City of Indianapolis, D.J.
Ref. 90-5-1-1-07292.
The proposed Second Amendment to 2006 Consent Decree may be
examined at the Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern
District of Indiana, 10 West Market St., Suite 2100, Indianapolis, IN
46204 (contact Asst. U.S. Attorney Thomas Kieper (317-226-6333)), and
at U.S. EPA Region 5, 7\th\ Floor Records Center, 77 West Jackson
Blvd., Chicago, Illinois 60604 (contact Assoc. Regional Counsel Gary
Prichard (312-886-0570)). 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 $8.50 (25 cents per
page reproduction cost) for both the proposed Second Amendment and
attached Table, payable to the U.S. Treasury or, if by e-mail or fax,
forward
[[Page 69705]]
a check in that amount to the Consent Decree Library at the stated
address.
Maureen Katz,
Assistant Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 2010-28599 Filed 11-12-10; 8:45 am]
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