United States Sixth Circuit

In a Clean Water Act civil enforcement action against a county brought by the United States and the Commonwealth of Kentucky for violations involving the county's sanitary and storm sewer systems, district court's refusal to approve a civil penalty is remanded where the district court's finding that the proposed civil penalty of $425,000 could be better directed toward alleviating the conditions that violated the Clean Water Act cannot, by itself, support rejection of an otherwise proper settlement in light of the express provision for civil penalties in the Clean Water Act.

Appellate Information

• Argued 12/03/2009
• Decided 01/07/2010
• Published 01/07/2010

Judges

• Before SILER, GILMAN, and ROGERS, Circuit Judges.

Court

• United States Sixth Circuit

Counsel

• For Appellees:
  
• ARGUED:Michael T. Gray, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Scott White, Morgan & Pottinger, P .S.C., Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellees. ON BRIEF:Michael T. Gray, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C., for Appellant. Scott White, Morgan & Pottinger, P.S.C., Lexington, Kentucky, John C. Bender, Kelly D. Bartley, Greenebaum Doll & McDonald PLLC, Lexington, Kentucky, for Appellees.