Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Clean Water Act

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 70 (Tuesday, April 13, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Page 18051]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-9143]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Clean Water 
Act

    In accordance with Departmental policy, 28 CFR 50.7, notice is 
hereby given that a proposed consent decree in United States v. 
Yellowstone Pipe Line Company and Conoco Pipe Line Company, Civil 
Action No. 96-47-M-CCL, was lodged on March 30, 1999, with the United 
States District Court for the District of Montana. The proposed consent 
decree would settle a civil action that the United States brought on 
behalf of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under 
Sections 309(d) and 311(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act 
(also known as the ``Clean Water Act''), 33 U.S.C. 1319(d), 1321(b), 
against Yellowstone Pipe Line Company (``Yellowstone'') and Conoco Pipe 
Line Company (``Conoco'') (collectively, ``defendants'') seeking civil 
penalties and injunctive relief to redress defendants' alleged 
violations of Sections 301(a) and 311(b)(3) of the Clean Water Act, 33 
U.S.C. 1311(a), 1321(b)(3), in connection with a discharge of a 
reportable quantity of oil into or upon the navigable waters of the 
United States and adjoining shorelines. The discharge, from the 
Yellowstone Pipeline owned by Yellowstone and operated by Conoco, 
occurred during the winter of 1993-94 into Camas Creek, into the creek 
sediments, onto adjoining wetlands and into the soil surrounding the 
pipeline, all within the boundaries of the Flathead Indian Reservation 
in Sanders County, Montana.
    Under the terms of the proposed consent decree, the defendants will 
be required to (1) pay a civil penalty of $165,000, and (2) perform a 
supplemental environmental project at a cost of approximately $130,000, 
consisting of a selective fish passageway to be constructed in the 
Lower Jocko River. The fish passageway will be designed to enhance the 
population of a threatened species, the bull trout, while preserving 
one of the few remaining genetically pure populations of westslope 
cutthroat trout, in the same ecosystem where the Camas Creek oil spill 
occurred.
    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 
United States v. Yellowstone Pipe Line Company and Conoco Pipe Line 
Company, DOJ Ref. No. 90-5-1-1-4205.
    The proposed consent decree may be examined at the office of the 
United States Attorney for the District of Montana, Federal Building, 
201 E. Broadway, Suite 210, Missoula, Montana 59807; the Region VIII 
Office of the Environmental Protection Agency, 999 Eighteenth Street, 
Suite 500, Denver, Colorado 80202; and at the Consent Decree Library, 
1120 G Street, N.W., 3rd Floor, Washington, D.C. 20005, (202) 624-0892. 
A copy of the proposed consent decree may be obtained in person or by 
mail from the Consent Decree Library, 1120 G Street, N.W., 3rd Floor, 
Washington, D.C. 20005. In requesting a copy, please refer to the 
referenced case and enclose a check in the amount of $10.00 (25 cents 
per page reproduction costs) payable to the Consent Decree Library.
Joel M. Gross,
Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and Natural 
Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 99-9143 Filed 4-12-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M