California Department of Toxic Substances Control v. United States of America

Filing 13

STIPULATION and ORDER signed by District Judge John A. Mendez on 12/1/2017 ORDERING that the matter is STAYED until 4/18/2018. The deadline for the parties to lodge a proposed Consent Decree is EXTENDED to 12/15/2017. In the event that a proposed Consent Decree cannot be filed with the Court by 12/15/2017, the parties agree to file a Supplemental Joint Status Report notifying the Court of the status of the approvals. (Zignago, K.)

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Case 2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC Document 12 Filed 11/30/17 Page 1 of 5 1 2 3 4 5 6 JEFFREY H. WOOD Acting Assistant Attorney General MARK A. RIGAU, State Bar No. 223610 Senior Trial Attorney United States Department of Justice Environment and Natural Resources Division 301 Howard Street, Suite 1050 San Francisco, CA 94105 Telephone: 415-744-6487 Facsimile: 415-744-6476 E-mail: Mark.Rigau@usdoj.gov Attorneys for the United States of America 7 8 9 10 11 IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT 12 FOR THE EASTERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA 13 14 15 16 CALIFORNIA DEPARTMENT OF TOXIC SUBSTANCES CONTROL, 2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC JOINT STATUS REPORT, Plaintiff, STIPULATION AND [PROPOSED] ORDER TO CONTINUE THE STAY 17 18 v. 19 THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, 20 Judge: Hon. John A. Mendez Action Filed: December 9, 2016 Defendant. 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 Joint Status Report, Stipulation and [Proposed] Order To Continue the Stay (2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC) Case 2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC Document 12 Filed 11/30/17 Page 2 of 5 1 Plaintiff, the Department of Toxic Substances Control (“DTSC”) and Defendant, the 2 United States of America (“United States”) hereby submit this Joint Status Report, Stipulation 3 and [Proposed] Order to Continue the Stay and to postpone the deadline for dispositional papers. 4 Dispositional papers are currently due on or before December 1, 2017. DTSC and the United 5 States stipulate to a deadline to lodge a proposed Consent Decree by December 15, 2017. 6 BACKGROUND 7 On or about December 9, 2016, DTSC initiated the above-captioned case, seeking cost 8 recovery and declaratory relief under sections 107(a) and 113(g) of the Comprehensive 9 Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), 42 U.S.C. §§ 9607(a) 10 and 9613(g). The matter concerns the properties known as 711 and 750 Jackson Street, Benicia, 11 Solano County, California (identified by Assessor’s Parcel number 0080-14-0440) and 938, 940, 12 942, 945, 946, 952, and 954 Tyler Street; 963, 965, 967, 969, 971, 973, 977, 979, 981, 983, 985, 13 989, and 991 Lincoln Street; and 900 and 954 Jackson Street, Benicia, Solano County, California 14 (identified by Assessor’s Parcel numbers 0080-28-0010, 0080-28-0030, 0080-28-0040, 0080-28- 15 0050) and all locations where hazardous substances released at, in, or from those addresses may 16 come to be located in the future (the “Site”). On April 27, 2017 DTSC and the United States filed 17 a Joint Notice of Tentative Settlement and asked the Court for additional time to file dispositional 18 papers. On April 28, 2017 the Court filed a Minute Order that stayed the matter and instructed 19 the parties to file dispositional documents on or before September 1, 2017. On August 31, 2017, 20 the Parties filed a Stipulation and Proposed Order seeking additional time to file the proposed 21 Consent Decree on or before November 1, 2017. ECF No. 8. The Parties stated that in the event 22 the proposed Consent Decree could not be filed with the Court by November 1, 2017, the parties 23 agreed to file a joint status report notifying the Court of the status of the approvals. Id. at 3. The 24 Court approved the stipulated extension on August 31, 2017. ECF No. 9. The parties entered 25 into a supplemental stipulated extension to extend the deadline until December 1, 2017, which 26 was approved by the Court. 27 28 1 Joint Status Report, Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue the Stay (2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC) Case 2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC Document 12 Filed 11/30/17 Page 3 of 5 1 2 SETTLEMENT PROGRESS DTSC and the United States have negotiated in good faith to resolve this matter. While 3 staff attorneys have agreed upon the terms of the Consent Decree that will settle this matter, the 4 review process, in which authorized officials within these two government organizations review 5 and approve the terms of the Consent Decree, is ongoing. 6 Under the settlement procedures for the United States, the settlement must be approved by 7 the Associate Attorney General of the United States Department of Justice. Undersigned counsel 8 for the United States has initiated the briefing process, but that process has taken longer than 9 anticipated due to intermediate review and the Thanksgiving Day holiday. Given the nature of 10 the review process, the undersigned counsel for the United States believes that it should take no 11 more than an additional 15-day period to obtain the requisite approval. In addition, the public, 12 including the current and past owners of the Site, will be provided the opportunity to comment on 13 the proposed Consent Decree. DTSC and the United States propose that the deadline for the 14 parties to lodge a proposed Consent Decree approved by the authorized officials of both 15 governments be briefly extended to December 15, 2017. 16 After the proposed Consent Decree is lodged, DTSC and the United States agree that a 60- 17 day comment period is appropriate. At the end of the comment period, DTSC will need to 18 respond to public comments. Due to the uncertainty as to the nature and number of the comments 19 that need to be considered and responded to, DTSC requests up to 30 days to respond to the 20 comments. After those 30 days, or sooner, if possible, the parties will file with the Court motions 21 for approval of the proposed Consent Decree, unless public comments disclose facts or 22 considerations that indicate the proposed Consent Decree is inappropriate, improper, or 23 inadequate, in which case DTSC may withdraw or withhold its consent to entry of the Consent 24 Decree. 25 STIPULATION 26 The parties hereby stipulate and agree that there is good cause for the Court to enter the 27 following order: 28 2 Joint Status Report, Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue the Stay (2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC) Case 2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC Document 12 Filed 11/30/17 Page 4 of 5 1 2 3 1. The matter is stayed until April 18, 2018. The deadline for the parties to lodge a proposed Consent Decree is extended to December 15, 2017. 2. In the event that a proposed Consent Decree cannot be filed with the Court by 4 December 15, 2017, the parties agree to file a Supplemental Joint Status Report notifying the 5 Court of the status of the approvals. 6 7 8 IT IS SO STIPULATED. 9 Dated: November 30, 2017 10 11 XAVIER BECERRA Attorney General of California SUSAN S. FIERING Supervising Deputy Attorney General 12 /s/ Heather C. Leslie (as authorized on 11/30/17.) ROSE B. FUA HEATHER C. LESLIE Deputy Attorneys General Attorneys for the California Department of Toxic Substances Control 13 14 15 16 17 Dated: November 30, 2017 JEFFREY H. WOOD Acting Assistant Attorney General 18 19 20 21 22 /s/ Mark A. Rigau MARK A. RIGAU Senior Trial Counsel Environment and Natural Resources Division United States Department of Justice Attorneys for the United States of America 23 24 25 26 27 28 3 Joint Status Report, Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue the Stay (2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC) 1 PURSUANT TO STIPULATION, IT IS SO ORDERED. 2 3 Dated: December 1, 2017 4 /s/ JOHN A. MENDEZ UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT JUDGE JOHN A. MENDEZ 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 4 Joint Status Report, Stipulation and [Proposed] Order to Continue the Stay (2:16-cv-02897-JAM-AC)

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