[Federal Register: March 16, 2005 (Volume 70, Number 50)]
[Notices]
[Page 12898-12899]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr16mr05-97]
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DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE
Notice of Lodging of Consent Decree Between the United States and
Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation Under the Clean
Air Act
Under 28 CFR 50.7, notice is hereby given that on March 7, 2005, a
proposed consent decree (``Consent Decree'') between Illinois Power
Company, Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc. and the United States, Civil
Action No. 99-833-MJR, was lodged with the United States District Court
for the Southern District of Illinois.
The Consent Decree would resolve claims asserted by the United
States against Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation in
a Complaint filed against Illinois Power Company on November 3, 1999
and in Amended Complaints filed against both Illinois Power Company and
Dynegy Midwest Generation, Inc. in 2001, 2002 and 2003, pursuant to
sections 113(b) and 167 of the Clean Air Act (the ``Act''), 42 U.S.C.
7413(b) and 7477, seeking injunctive relief and the assessment of civil
penalties for violations at the Baldwin Generating Station of:
(a) The Prevention of Significant Deterioration provisions in part
C of subchapter I of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 7470-92;
(b) The New Source Performance Standards provision in part A of
subchapter I of the Act, 42 U.S.C. 7411; and
(c) The federally-enforceable State Implementation Plan developed
by the State of Illinois (the ``Illinois SIP'').
In addition, the proposed Consent Decree would require Dynegy
Midwest Generation to spend no less than $15 million to implement
mitigation projects that will finance the installation of enhanced
mercury reduction technology, the acquisition and preservation of
ecologically valuable lands and habitat in the St. Louis Metro East
area and along the Illinois River, municipal building energy
conservation, advanced truck stop electrification to reduce air
emissions from diesel exhaust, and the transfer of an approximately
1,135 acre parcel of land along the Middle Fork of the Vermillion River
in Vermillion County, Illinois, to the State of Illinois, Department
The Complaints filed by the United States allege, among other
things, that between approximately 1982 and the present, Illinois Power
Company modified and thereafter operated the three coal-fired
electricity generating units at the Baldwin Generating Station in
Baldwin, Illinois, without first obtaining a PSD permit authorizing the
construction and without installing the best available technology to
control emissions of sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, and particulate
matter, as required by the Act, applicable Federal regulations, and the
Illinois SIP. These modifications resulted in significant net emissions
increases, as defined by 40 CFR 52.21(b)(3)(i), of none or more of the
following pollutants: NOX, SO2, and PM.
The proposed Consent Decree would require the current owner and
operator of the Baldwin Generating Station, Dynegy Midwest Generation,
to reduce SO2, NOX and PM emissions at the
Baldwin Generating Station, as well as at four other coal-fired plants
it owns in Illinois--the Havana Generating Station in Havana, IL, the
Hennepin Generating Station in Hennepin, IL, the Vermilion Generating
Station in Oakwood, IL, and the Wood River Generating Station in Alton,
Illinois--through the installation of state-of-the-art pollution
control
[[Page 12899]]
technologies and compliance with specified emission limits of Natural
Resources. Finally, the proposed Consent Decree would require Dynegy
Midwest Generation to pay a $9.0 million civil penalty.
The United States was joined in the settlement by Plaintiff-
Intervenors the State of Illinois and four citizen groups--the American
Bottom Conservancy; Health and Environmental Justice--St. Louis;
Illinois Stewardship Alliance; and the Prairie Rivers Network.
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, P.O. Box 7611, U.S.
Department of Justice, Washington, DC 20044-7611, and should refer to
United States v. Illinois Power Company and Dynegy Midwest Generation,
Inc., D.J. Ref. No. 90-5-2-1-06837.
The Consent Decree may be examined at the Office of the United
States Attorney, Southern District of Illinois, 9 Executive Drive,
Suite 300, Fairview Heights, IL 62208, and at U.S. EPA Region V, 77
West Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604-3507. 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/open.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 (tonia.fleetwood@usdoj.gov), 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 $21.75
(25 cents per page reproduction cost) payable to the U.S. Treasury.
W. Benjamin Fisherow,
Deputy Chief, Environmental Enforcement Section, Environment and
Natural Resources Division.
[FR Doc. 05-5198 Filed 3-15-05 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4410-15-M