[Federal Register Volume 59, Number 167 (Tuesday, August 30, 1994)]
[Unknown Section]
[Page 0]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 94-21366]
[[Page Unknown]]
[Federal Register: August 30, 1994]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5061-8]
National Oil and Hazardous, Substances Pollution Contingency
Plan; National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, Lee
County, Iowa from the National Priorities List: Request for Comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 7 announces
its intent to delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, located in Lee
County, Iowa from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests
public comment on this action. The NPL constitutes appendix B to the
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP),
40 CFR part 300, which the EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability
Act (CERCLA), as amended. The reason this action is being taken is that
Superfund Remedial Activities have been completed.
DATES: Comments concerning this site may be submitted on or before
September 29, 1994.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Michael J. Sanderson, Acting
Director, Waste Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas 66101.
Additional Information: Comprehensive information on this site is
available through the EPA Region 7 public docket, which is located in
the EPA's Region 7 office and is available for viewing by appointment
only from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding
holidays. Requests for appointments or copies of the background
information from the Regional public docket should be directed formally
to the EPA Region 7 docket office.
The address for the Regional docket office is: U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas
66101.
Background information from the Regional public docket is also
available for viewing at the Dupont County Road X23 Site information
repository which is located with: Idol Rashid Memorial Branch, Fort
Madison Public Libraries, 3421 Avenue L, Fort Madison, Iowa 52627.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Roemerman. U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas
66101, (913) 551-7694.
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 7 announces its
intent to delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, Lee County, Iowa
Site, from the National Priorities List (NPL), which constitutes
Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (NCP), and requests comments on this 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. Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions
financed by the Hazardous Substance Response Fund (Fund). Pursuant to
Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP), any site
deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial
actions if future conditions at the site warrant such action.
The EPA will accept comments on its intention to delete this site
from the NPL for thirty days after the publication of this notice in
the Federal Register.
Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites
from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that the EPA is
using for this action. Section IV discusses how the site meets the
deletion criteria.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from
the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), sites may be deleted
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making this
determination, EPA, in consultation with the State, will consider
whether any of the following criteria have been met:
(i) Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all
appropriate response actions required; or
(ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been
implemented and no further response 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.
Section 121(f)(1)(C) of CERCLA, and Sec. 300.425(e)(2) of the NCP
require State concurrence before deleting a site from the NPL.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for
subsequent Fund-financed actions if future conditions warrant such
actions. Section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP states: ``All releases
deleted from the NPL are eligible for further Fund-financed remedial
actions should future conditions warrant such action. Whenever there is
a significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the site shall
be restored to the NPL, without application of the HRS [hazard ranking
system].''
Deletion of sites 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 I of this notice, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP
makes clear that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude
eligibility for future Fund-financed response actions.
III. Deletion Procedures
EPA Region 7 will accept and evaluate public comments before making
the final decision to delete the site from the NPL. The Agency believes
that deletion procedures should focus on notice and comment at the
local level. Comments from the local community are likely to be the
most pertinent to deletion decisions. The following procedures were
used for the intended deletion of the site:
1. EPA Region 7 has recommended the deletion and prepared the
relevant documents.
2. The State of Iowa has concurred with the deletion decision.
3. Concurrent with this National Notice of Intent to Delete a
notice has been published in local and community newspapers and has
been distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and
other interested parties. This notice announces a thirty (30) day
public comment period on the deletion package, which starts two weeks
from September 13, 1994 and which will conclude on September 29, 1994.
4. The Region has made all relevant documents available in the
Regional Office and local site information repository.
The comments received during the notice and comment period will be
evaluated before the final decision to delete is made. The Region will
prepare a Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address any
comments received during the public comment period.
A deletion will occur after the Regional Administrator places a
notice in the Federal Register. The NPL will reflect any deletions in
the next final update. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness
Summary will be made available to local residents by Region 7.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for
recommending deletion of the Dupont County Road X23, Lee County, Iowa
Site, from the NPL.
The DuPont County Road X23 Site is located near West Point, Lee
County, Iowa. The site is comprised of two subsites, the Baier and the
McCarl subsites, located within one mile of each other on County Road
X23. The Baier and McCarl subsites are located within NE\1/4\, SW\1/4\,
Section 28, Township 68 North, Range 5 West and SE\1/4\, SW\1/4\,
Section 22 Township 68 North, Range 5 West, respectively.
DuPont contracted with Charles Knoch to haul and dispose of paint
wastes from its Fort Madison plant during the period 1949-53.
(Following this DuPont contracted to have the waste taken to the Strunk
Farm which was cleaned up voluntarily in 1981 by DuPont.) DuPont
estimates that 48,000 to 72,000 55-gallon drums of waste were disposed
of at the two subsites. The Baier subsite, owned at that time by Mr.
Knoch's sister, was the primary disposal site. In inclement weather
when the Baier subsite was inaccessible, Mr. Knoch would use the McCarl
subsite. The McCarl subsite was purchased by DuPont in 1986 to prevent
a home being built on the site.
The paint waste was placed in trenches and burned. DuPont estimates
that as a result of incomplete burning 4,500 to 7,000 tons of ash might
remain on the site.
The Baier site was listed as a potentially, uncontrolled, hazardous
waste site in the Eckhardt Subcommittee Report in November 1979.
The site was placed on the NPL with a hazard ranking System (HRS)
score of 46.01 on August 30, 1990, 55 FR 169.
A Preliminary Assessment (PA) of the Baier Farm was conducted in
September 1980 by the U.S. EPA Field Investigative Team (FIT).
A Field Investigation of the Baier Farm was conducted by FIT in
April 1983. Soil sample analysis found seven priority pollutant metals
in concentrations exceeding background (concentrations ranged from 90
to 18,000 ppm). Also detected were six priority pollutant organics in
soil samples (with concentrations up to 220,000 ppb).
On March 28, 1984, EPA sent an information request letter to DuPont
regarding the waste site. DuPont's response indicated another possible
waste site at the McCarl property on Chalkridge Road.
In July 1985 FIT oversaw the installation of three ground water
monitoring wells at the Baier Site. Analyses of ground water samples
collected from the wells showed elevated levels of aluminum, barium,
calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, manganese and lead. A
second round of sampling of these wells in 1986 resulted in similar
findings, with chromium exceeding the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs)
set forth in 40 CFR part 141. Downstream surface water samples showed
high concentrations of metals including lead and chromium.
The Preliminary Assessment for the McCarl subsite was conducted in
January 1985 by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.
FIT conducted the Site Investigation for the McCarl subsite in July
1986, including the installation and sampling of three ground water
monitoring wells. Analysis of soil samples from the investigation
showed concentrations in excess of background for barium, cadmium,
chromium, lead, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc. Analysis of
ground water samples showed concentrations in excess of MCLs for
antimony (32 times the MCL), cadmium, chromium, selenium. Other metals
were also detected. DuPont sampled the McCarl ground water wells in
July 1988 and found higher levels of selenium than found by FIT.
A Special Notice letter for RI/FS negotiations was sent to DuPont
on January 31, 1989.
The EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) to DuPont on
July 5, 1989. The UAO required a removal action at the Baier/Fedler
subsite and an RI/FS for both subsites. The Removal Action was
indefinitely deferred in February 7, 1990, in an amendment to the UAO.
RI/FS activities were completed in January 1991. As part of the RI/
FS a Baseline Risk Assessment was performed, based on data from the RI,
to evaluate the potential risks to human health posed by potential soil
and ground water contamination at the Site. An ecological risk
assessment was prepared in conjunction with the Baseline Risk
Assessment. Protective concentrations of contaminants were established,
based on residential exposure for both the average and reasonable
worst-case scenarios. Action levels (cleanup criteria) based on these
exposure scenarios were then developed for soils at the Site.
The Baseline Risk Assessment indicated that ground water
contamination posed no threat to human health because of the lack of a
complete exposure pathway due to the lack of yield from the
contaminated water bearing unit. Few receptor wells exist in the Site
vicinity. Furthermore, the nearby residential wells, sampled
periodically, indicated that metals and volatile organic compounds were
below all regulatory health-based standards. The ``no-action''
alternative was selected for ground water.
Based on the completed RI/FS, the ROD was issued on May 28, 1991,
and EPA successfully negotiated a Consent Decree (lodged February 25,
1992, entered April 23, 1992, Case Number 3-92-CV-10028 in the United
States District Court, Southern District of Iowa, Davenport Division)
for Remedial Design/Remedial Action (RD/RA) activities with DuPont.
DuPont completed the RA at the Site in September 1993. As required by
the ROD, the RA included: (1) All surface waste materials not amenable
to the selected technology, such as metal, grinding balls, and paint
cans, were to be removed and disposed at an off-site RCRA-permitted
hazardous waste landfill prior to stabilization/ solidification,
(2) Construction of an on-site waste disposal cell,
(3) Stabilization/solidification of contaminated soils and
placement in the on-site disposal cell, and
(4) Construction of a soil cap over the disposal cell. Restrictions
on the future use and development of the Site were included to ensure
the integrity of the cover and the underlying, solidified soil mass and
to prevent human contact with treated soils.
EPA in consultation with the State of Iowa, has determined that all
fund-financed response activities under CERCLA at the Dupont County
Road X23 Site, Lee County, Iowa have been completed, and that no
further response is necessary. Therefore, it is proposed that the Site
be deleted from the NPL.
Dated: August 1, 1994.
Dennis Grams,
Regional Administrator, Region 7.
[FR Doc. 94-21366 Filed 8-29-94; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P