[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 246 (Wednesday, December 23, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 71052-71054]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-33742]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-6205-8]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Yellow Water Road Dump Superfund
Site from the National Priorities List (NPL): request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces
its intent to delete the Yellow Water Road Dump from the National
Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this proposed
action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 which is the
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP),
which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of
1980, as amended. EPA and Florida Department of Environmental
Protection (FDEP) have determined that the Site poses no significant
threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, further
remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.
DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before
January 22, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: David Lloyd, Remedial Project
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA
Region 4 public docket, which is located at EPA's Region 4 office and
is available for viewing by appointment from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday
through Friday, excluding holidays. Requests for appointments or copies
of the background information from the regional public docket should be
directed to the EPA Region 4 Docket Office.
The address for the Regional Docket Office is: Ms. Debbie Jourdan,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303, Telephone No. (404) 562-8862.
Background information from the regional public docket is also
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at the
following address: Baldwin Town Hall, 10 U.S. 90 West, Baldwin, Florida
32234. U.S.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: David Lloyd, Remedial Project Manager,
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 61 Forsyth Street, Atlanta,
Georgia 30303, (404) 562-8917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
I. Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces its
intent to delete the Yellow Water Road Dump Site, Duval County, Florida
from the National Priorities List (NPL), Appendix B of the National Oil
and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part
300, and requests comments on this deletion. 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 these sites. As
described in Sec. 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.
EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for
thirty days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.
Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is
using for this action. Section IV discusses the Yellow Water Road Dump
Site and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that sites may be deleted
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making a
determination to delete a site 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 action required;
(ii) All appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented,
and no further action by responsible parties is appropriate; or
[[Page 71053]]
(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 substance,
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.
In the case of this Site, the selected remedy is protective of human
health and the environment. EPA will conduct a five-year review for the
Site and 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 the application of the Hazardous Ranking
System.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of
this Site: (1) EPA issued a Final Close Out Report indicating that the
remedial actions at the Site were completed in accordance with the two
Records of Decisions for the Site and that no further remedial action
is necessary to ensure protection of human health and the environment;
(2) The Florida Department of Environmental Protection concurs with the
proposed 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 relevant documents have been made
available for public review at the local Site information repositories.
Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual's rights or obligations and does not preclude
eligibility for future response actions. The NPL is designed primarily
for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. As
mentioned in section II of this document, Sec. 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 summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.
A. Site Background and History
The Yellow Water Road Dump Site is located off Yellow Water Road
(Florida State Road 217) about one mile south of Baldwin, Duval County,
Florida. The Site encompasses approximately 14 acres. The land adjacent
to the Site is used for commercial and residential purposes.
In October 1981, the property owner and several independent
companies formed an enterprise with the intent of incinerating PCBs on
the property. PCB-contaminated liquid and equipment were stored at the
Site. The incinerator permit was never obtained, and the PCB-
contaminated materials continued to be stored on site. Valuable metals
such as copper were salvaged from the transformer carcasses, spilling
PCB liquid and causing soil contamination at the Site.
During an emergency removal action conducted by EPA in November
1984, 719 transformers were drained, steam cleaned, and stored on site.
Approximately 100,000 gallons of PCB-contaminated fluid were
transferred to secured, on-site holding tanks, and approximately 3,000
cubic yards of PCB-contaminated soil were excavated and stockpiled on a
concrete pad.
The Yellow Water Road Dump Site was proposed for inclusion on the
NPL on September 18, 1985 (50 FR 37950) and placed on the NPL on June
10, 1986.
In May 1988, EPA entered into an Administrative Order on Consent
with a group of Potentially Responsible Parties (PRPs) to perform an
interim surface removal action at the Site. The PRPs completed the
removal action in July 1988. The removal activities included the
demolition and disposal of an on-site warehouse, off-site disposal of
the stockpiled contaminated soil, off-site incineration of 78,854
gallons of PCB-containing liquid, disposal of 704 transformers, and
disposal of 18,690 pounds of capacitors.
Under an Administrative Order on Consent the PRPs began a Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) in 1990. The RI included an
investigation of surface water, soil, sediment, air and ground water
associated with the Site. The investigation included a wide range of
analyses to detect volatile organic compounds, base/neutral compounds,
pesticides, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), and inorganic compounds.
The Risk Assessment identified PCB compounds as the only contaminants
of concern at the Site. Total PCB concentrations of up to 660 mg/kg in
Site soil and sediment were identified, and total PCB concentrations of
up to .029 mg/l were detected in Site groundwater.
B. Response Actions
Based on the results of the RI/FS work and the Risk Assessment, EPA
issued two Records of Decision (RODs). The Operable Unit One (OU-1)
ROD, issued on September 28, 1990 called for excavation and
solidification/stabilization of PCB-contaminated soil and sediment. The
Operable Unit Two (OU-2) ROD, dated June 30, 1992 called for a long
term ground water monitoring remedy, with a contingency for ground
water pump and treat.
Under an EPA Unilateral Administrative Order issued by EPA, the
PRP's contractor completed a Remedial Design for the soil and sediment
remedy in September 1992. A Consent Decree between EPA and the PRPs
provided for the implementation of the remedy for both operable units.
The Consent Decree was entered on October 11, 1995. A separate
agreement under which several federal PRPs would participate in
implementing the remedy was embodied in an Administrative Order on
Consent. In January 1996, EPA approved Remedial Action Work Plans
prepared by the engineering contractor for the OU-1 and non-contingent
OU-2 remedies. The construction contractor mobilized to the Site and
began implementing these remedies on May 9, 1996. A volume of 4,472
cubic yards of contaminated soil and sediment was excavated, stabilized
and solidified using portland cement, and placed in an on-site
monolith. A September 17, 1996 construction inspection revealed that
all components of the OU-1 remedy and the non-contingent portion of the
OU-2 remedy were constructed in accordance with RD/RA plans and
specifications.
A Remedial Action Report dated November 1996, documents the
completion of the Remedial Action for OU-1 and completion of the non-
contingent portions of the remedy for
[[Page 71054]]
OU-2. EPA approved the RA Report on February 26, 1997.
On April 6, 1998 an Explanation of Significant Difference (ESD) for
the OU-2 ROD was finalized. The ESD clarifies the OU-2 ROD to indicate
that the ground water remedy, based on four consistent monitoring
events with no detectable PCBs, had attained its performance goal of
0.5 ppb. On this basis, no further ground water monitoring or
contingent remedial activities are required.
C. Cleanup Standards
The remedial action cleanup activities at the Yellow Water Road
Dump Site are consistent with the objectives of the NCP and provide
protection to human health and the Environment. The cleanup standards
for soil PCBs are 10 mg/kg. The cleanup standards for PCBs in ground
water are 0.5 ppb. All soil containing PCBs at concentrations greater
that 10 mg/kg was excavated, treated via stabilization/solidification,
placed in an on-site monolith, covered with one foot of clean soil and
vegetated. Treated soil achieved performance standards of greater than
50 psi for compressive strength and less than 60 ug/l for total
leachable PCBs (TCLP). Extensive confirmatory sampling verifies that
the Site has achieved the cleanup standards for both soil and ground
water and that performance standards were achieved or exceeded for
treated soil.
D. Operation and Maintenance
The Operation, Maintenance and Monitoring Plan was approved by EPA
on May 1, 1997. Ongoing operation, maintenance and monitoring
activities include semi-annual inspections of the Site monolith to
evaluate the presence of, or potential for, surface cover failures and/
or intrusions including surface cracking, establishment of deep-rooted
vegetation, animal burrow holes, wash-outs and soil erosion; assessment
of Site fencing and vegetative cover inspection; and evaluation of the
monolith integrity. Pursuant to the existing Consent Decree, the Yellow
Water PRP Group has assumed all responsibility for O&M until the thirty
year anniversary of the Consent Decree entry in 2026. Following this
date, federal PRPs will conduct the O&M.
E. Five Year Review
Because treated waste will remain on site in the monolith, a five
year review of this project is necessary to ensure continued protection
of human health and the environment. The five year time frame begins
with the date of remedial action mobilization to the Site which, for
this project, is May 9, 1996. Therefore, the five year review should be
completed prior to May 9, 2001 and will be conducted pursuant to OSWER
Directive 9355.7-02, ``Structure and Components of Five Year Reviews.''
F. Community Involvement
EPA published its community Relations Plan in May 1990, after
interviews with local residents and officials. An information
repository was established at the Baldwin Town Hall and all of the
documents used to make remedy decisions were placed there before the
Records of Decisions were signed. Other community involvement
activities included an on-site public meeting, routine publication of
fact sheets at all important milestones during the project and ongoing
direct communication with the public as the need for information arose.
G. Applicable Deletion Criteria
One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that responsible
parties or other parties have implemented all appropriate response
actions required. EPA, with concurrence of Florida Department of
Environmental Protection, believes that this criterion for deletion has
been met. Subsequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site from the
NPL. Documents supporting this action are available from the deletion
docket.
H. State Concurrence
EPA has consulted with the Florida Department of Environmental
Protection (FDEP) in evaluating the Site for deletion. FDEP has
concluded that activities at the Site have been completed in accordance
with the site Records of Decision and the remedy is protective of human
health and the environment.
Dated: November 30, 1998.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 98-33742 Filed 12-22-98; 8:45 am]
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