[Federal Register Volume 72, Number 216 (Thursday, November 8, 2007)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63186-63187]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 07-5581]


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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE


Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Pursuant to the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act

    Notice is hereby given that on October 26, 2007, a proposed 
Settlement Agreement Regarding the Tri-State Mining District Sites was 
filed with the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District 
of Texas in In re ASARCO LLC, et al., Case No. 05-21207 ( Bankr. S.D. 
Tex.). The Tri-State Mining District Sites consist of the Tar Creek 
Superfund Site, in Ottawa County, Oklahoma, the Cherokee County 
Superfund Site in Cherokee County, Kansas, the Oronogo-Duenweg Lead 
Mining Belt (Jasper County) Superfund Site in Jasper County, Missouri, 
and the Newton County Mine Tailings Superfund Site in Newton County, 
Missouri. The proposed Settlement Agreement entered into among the 
United States on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency and the 
Department of Interior, and the States of Kansas, Missouri and 
Oklahoma, and ASARCO LLC (``Asarco'') provides that the United States 
shall have total allowed general unsecured claims of $144,000,000 for 
past and future response costs and natural resource damages for the 
Tri-State Mining District sites, and that the States of Kansas, 
Missouri and Oklahoma shall have allowed general unsecured claims of 
$3,250,000, $3,250,000, and $7,500,000 respectively. The proposed 
Settlement Agreement resolves the United States' past and future 
response cost and natural resource damage claims at the Tri-State 
Mining District Sites.
    The Department of Justice will accept comments relating to the 
proposed Settlement Agreement for a period of thirty (30) days from the 
date of publication of this notice. Comments should be addressed to the 
Assistant Attorney General, Environment and Natural Resources Division, 
and mailed either electronically to [email protected] or in 
hard copy to

[[Page 63187]]

P.O. Box 7611, U.S. Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611. 
Comments should refer to In re Asarco LLC, Case No. 05-21207 (Bankr. 
S.D. Tex.), and DJ Ref. No. 90-11-3-08633.
    The proposed Settlement Agreement may be examined at: (1) The 
Office of the United States Attorney for the Southern District of 
Texas, 800 North Shoreline Blvd, 500, Corpus Christi, TX 
78476-2001; (2) the Region 6 Office of the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas 75202; 
and (3) the Region 7 Office of the United States Environmental 
Protection Agency, 901 North Fifth Street, Kansas City, KS 66101. 
During the comment period, the proposed Settlement Agreement may also 
be examined on the following Department of Justice Web site: http://www.usdoj.gov/enrd/Consent_Decree.html. A copy of the proposed 
Settlement Agreement may also be obtained by mail from the Department 
of Justice Consent Decree Library, P.O. Box 7611, 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 refer to the referenced case and D.J. Reference No. 90-
11-3-08633, and enclose a check in the amount of $4.25 for the 
Settlement Agreement (21 pages at 25 cents per page reproduction 
costs), made payable to the U.S. Treasury.

Robert E. Maher, Jr.,
Assistant Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and 
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 07-5581 Filed 11-7-07; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M