[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30554-30558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14579]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5830-9]
National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site from
the National Priorities List and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 announces
its intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site (Site) from the
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this
proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
(CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR Part 300
which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (NCP). EPA and the State of Louisiana, through the
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), have determined
that the Site poses no significant threat to public health, welfare, or
the environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to
CERCLA are not appropriate.
DATES: The EPA will accept comments concerning its proposal to delete
this Site from the NPL until July 7, 1997.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Mr. Verne McFarland, Community
Relations Coordinator (6SF-P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-6617.
Information Repositories: Comprehensive information on the Site is
available through the public docket which is available for viewing at
the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site information repositories at the
following locations:
U.S. EPA Region 6 Library (12th Floor), 445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas
75202-2733, (214) 665-6424 / 665-6427.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, 290 Bluebonnet Road,
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809, (504) 765-0487.
Police Jury of Iberville Parish, 10 Meriam, Plaquemine, LA 70765, (504)
687-5190.
Iberville Parish Library, 501 J. Gerald Berret Blvd., Plaquemine, LA
70765, (504) 687-2520.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Stephen L. Tzhone, Remedial
Project Manager (6SF-LP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region
6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-8409.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
Appendices
A. Site Map
B. Deletion Docket Information
I. Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 announces its
intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site (Site) from the
National Priorities List (NPL), Appendix B of the National Oil and
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), Code of Federal
Regulations, Title 40 (40 CFR), Part 300, and request comments on the
proposed deletion. The EPA identifies sites that appear to present a
significant risk to public health, welfare, or the environment and
maintains the NPL as the list of those sites. As described in section
300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible
for remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site
warrant such action.
The EPA will accept comments concerning its intent to delete for
thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the Federal
Register and a newspaper of record.
Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is using
for this action. Section IV discusses the Bayou Sorrel. Superfund Site
and how the Site meets the deletion criteria.
[[Page 30555]]
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that releases may be deleted
from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further response is
appropriate. In making a determination to delete a release from the
NPL, EPA shall consider, in consultation with the State, whether any of
the following criteria have been met:
i. Responsible parties or other parties have implemented all
appropriate response actions required;
ii. All appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented, and
no further action by responsible parties is appropriate; or
iii. The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses no
significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore,
taking of remedial measures is not appropriate
Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances,
pollutants, or contaminants remain at the site above levels that allow
for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA's policy is that a
subsequent review of the site will be conducted at least every five
years after the initiation of the remedial action at the site to ensure
that the site remains protective of public health and the environment.
If new information becomes available which indicates a need for further
action, EPA may initiate remedial actions. Whenever there is a
significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the site may be
restored to the NPL without application of the Hazard Ranking System.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the
Site:
(1) EPA Region 6 has recommended deletion and has prepared the
relevant documents;
(2) The State of Louisiana concurred by letter dated January 30,
1997, with the deletion decision;
(3) A notice has been published in the local newspaper and has been
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and
other interested parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public
comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and
(4) All relevent documents have been made available for public
review in the local Site information repositories.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed
primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management.
As mentioned in Section II of this document, section 300.425(e)(3) of
the NCP states that the deletion of a site from the NPL does not
preclude eligibility for future response actions.
For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and
evaluate public comments on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before
making a final decision to delete. If necessary, the Agency will
prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address any significant public
comments received.
A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local
residents by the Regional office.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The following information provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL:
A. Site Location
The Site is located in section 40, 41, 42, 43 and in Township 10
South, Range 10 East, in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20
miles southwest of Baton Rouge and six miles northwest of the town of
Bayou Sorrel. The Site is ``T'' shaped and encompasses 265 acres of
land. The west border of the Site is bound by a man-made drainage
feature called ``Borrow River'' and approximately 100 yards west of
Borrow River is the Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee. The northern
side of the Site is bound by the Upper Grand River and the eastern side
is bound by the Pat Bayou. Undeveloped swamp land is adjacent to the
Site on the south.
Access to the Site from the north is along the unpaved levee road
14 miles south of its intersection with Interstate 10 at Ramah,
Louisiana. The same unpaved levee road provides access to the south of
the Site from its origin six miles north of the town of Bayou Sorrel.
The Upper Grand River also provides barge access to the Site.
B. Site History
Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site is a remediated and inactive site
currently under an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plan agreed upon by
the EPA and the potentially responsible parties. One million cubic feet
of contaminated soil and sediments are entombed beneath two multi-
layered, protective caps with 30 feet deep concrete barriers to halt
any residual migration of pollution into groundwater and adjacent
wetlands. The O&M Plan calls for 30 years of Site maintenance and
monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of the cleanup activities.
The Site is known locally as the ``Grand River Pits,'' and was a
petrochemical waste dump/landfill operated by the Environmental
Purification Advancement Corporation (EPAC) from 1977 to 1978. Wastes
were received by EPAC and dumped on approximately 50 acres of the total
Site acreage. Disposed wastes included process wastes from pesticide
and herbicide manufacturing, sulfide containing wastes from
petrochemical manufacturing and petroleum exploration and production,
and spent wash solutions from boiler cleaning. Incompatible chemicals
were mixed haphazardly in four landfills, one drum burial area, four
open ponds, and one landfarm.
In 1978, a truck driver died at the site when liquid waste dumped
from his truck reacted with the disposed wastes to create lethal
hydrogen sulfide gas. The 18th Judicial District Court ordered the Site
closed and EPAC conducted closure activities from 1978 to 1979. Wastes
were de-watered and transferred from three ponds to a fourth pond where
solids were concentrated by evaporation and landfarming. The wastes
were then combined with native soils and the ponds filled in and
contoured.
After site closure, complaints about odors and surface water
contamination in the swamps south of the Site were received by the
State. To protest the continuing pollution from flooding and to stop
trucks from dumping more waste into the ``Grand River Pits,'' area
residents burned a bridge leading to the Site.
Based on the information obtained from the State, the Site was
proposed to EPA's NPL on December 20, 1982, and finalized on September
8, 1983. This listing action provided the mechanism for EPA to use
federal monies for cleanup actions at the Site. Consequently, the EPA
conducted a Remedial Investigation to determine the nature and extent
of wastes at the Site and a Feasibility Study to evaluate various
cleanup alternatives. Following a public comment period, EPA signed the
Record of Decision (ROD) for the Site in 1986. The cleanup remedy
selected in the ROD was completed in 1990 and included the following
remedial activities:
Regrading the site to limit runoff of contaminants,
control erosion, and divert storm water from the waste ponds;
Covering two former disposal areas with topsoil/
geomembrane/clay caps and installing a venting system to reduce the
buildup of methane gas beneath the cap and a pore water
[[Page 30556]]
drainage system above the wastes and below the caps;
Installing underground concrete barriers or ``slurry
walls'' around the waste ponds to stop contaminant migration into
ground water;
Enclosing capped areas with security fences and building
access roads to allow continued use of adjacent recreational land; and
Installing a ground water monitoring system to monitor the
effectiveness of the remedy.
C. Characterization of Risk
Continued monitoring of groundwater demonstrate that no significant
risk to public health or the environment is posed by the hazardous
materials remaining at the Site. Based on the successful remedial
actions addressing the hazardous materials onsite, the monitoring
results of O&M activities to date, and the public health consultation
by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), EPA
verifies the implemented Site remedy is protective of human health and
the environment.
D. Community Involvement
Public participation activities have been satisfied as required in
CERCLA section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and section 117, 42 U.S.C.
9617. Documents in the deletion docket which EPA relied on for
recommendation of the Site deletion from the NPL have been available to
the public in the four information repositories.
E. Proposed Action
EPA, with concurrence of the State of Louisiana, has determined
that all appropriate responses under CERCLA at the Bayou Sorrel
Superfund Site have been completed, and that no further response
actions, other than O&M and Five-Year reviews, are necessary.
Therefore, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site from the NPL.
Dated: May 21, 1997.
Myron O. Knudson,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 6.
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Appendix B--Bayou Sorrel Deletion Docket
Remedial Investigation Report, Vol. I and II, CH2M
Hill, November 27, 1985.
Feasibility Study Report, CH2M Hill and SRW Associates,
January 31, 1986.
Endangerment Assessment, Life Systems, Inc., February
21, 1986.
EPA Record of Decision, USEPA Region 6, November 14,
1986.
Remedial Concept Design, ERM-Southwest, Inc., March 18,
1987
Ground Water Statistics Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc.,
April 28, 1987.
Operation and Maintenance Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc.,
December 14, 1988.
Health Assessment, ATSDR, April 6, 1989.
Quality Assurance Project Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc.,
April 24, 1989.
Sampling and Analysis Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc.,
October 26, 1990.
Remedial Action Report, ERM-Southwest, Inc., October
30, 1990.
EPA Final Closeout Report, USEPA Region 6, May 26,
1992.
EPA Five-Year Review, USEPA Region 6, September 30,
1993.
Health Consultation, ATSDR, May 8, 1995.
Regional Arsenic Groundwater Information, ERM-
Southwest, Inc., December 6, 1995.
Ground Water Statistics Report Post-Construction Year
6, Vol. I and II, ERM-Southwest, Inc., December 30, 1996.
EPA Risk Assessment Concurrence on Deletion, USEPA
Region 6, January 15, 1997.
Louisiana State Concurrence on Deletion, LDEQ, January
30, 1997.
Notice of Intent to Delete, USEPA Region 6, February
21, 1997.
[FR Doc. 97-14579 Filed 6-3-97; 8:45 am]
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