[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 60 (Wednesday, March 29, 1995)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 16053-16055]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-7596]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5180-4]


Amendment to the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan (NCP); CERCLIS Definition Change

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Amendment to change definition.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is adopting new 
procedures for maintaining its Comprehensive Environmental Response, 
Compensation and Liability Information System (CERCLIS). CERCLIS is the 
data base and data management system EPA uses to track activities at 
sites considered for cleanup under the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response and Liability Act (CERCLA) (also known as Superfund).
    Today's document announces the decision to remove from CERCLIS 
those sites that EPA has decided do not warrant further evaluation 
under Superfund. We specifically include sites that the Agency has 
given a designation of ``No Further Response Action Planned'' (NFRAP), 
to eliminate any possible disincentive to purchase, improve, redevelop, 
and revitalize sites, related to inclusion on CERCLIS.

EFFECTIVE DATE: This rule is effective March 29, 1995.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Cullen, Office of Program 
Management, Office of Emergency and Remedial Response (5201G), U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW., Washington, DC, 
20460, or the Superfund Hotline, phone (800) 424-9346, or (703) 412-
9810 in the Washington DC, metropolitan area.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Sites given a NFRAP designation will now be 
placed in a separate archived data base. This document reflects these 
decisions by instituting formal changes to the part of EPA's 
regulations known as the National Oil and Hazardous Substances 
Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300. Specifically, EPA is 
changing the definition of CERCLIS, found at 40 CFR 300.5, to provide 
that NFRAP sites will be placed in a separate archived data base that 
will also be available to the public.
    This amendment to the CERCLIS definition also reflects the 
possibility that, in the future, EPA may consider archiving other 
categories of sites from CERCLIS at which the Agency's Superfund 
program has no further involvement.
    Since these changes are matters relating to internal Agency 
management, there is no requirement for public notice and opportunity 
to comment.
    The NCP describes CERCLIS and NFRAP in its ``Definitions'' section, 
40 CFR 300.5. CERCLIS contains the official inventory of potential 
CERCLA sites and supports EPA's site planning [[Page 16054]] and 
tracking functions. CERCLIS contains information from pre-remedial, 
remedial, removal and enforcement actions of the Superfund program, and 
has the flexibility to retrieve these actions separately for tracking, 
planning or analysis purposes.
    When a site is identified and placed in CERCLIS, it may undergo a 
series of evaluations of increasing complexity. These include a 
Preliminary Assessment, a Site Inspection, an Expanded Site Inspection, 
listing on the National Priorities List (NPL), conducting a Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study, signing a Record of Decision detailing 
the remedial action which will be taken, completing all remedial 
actions, formally deleting the site from the NPL, taking enforcement 
actions against liable parties, and conducting removal actions or other 
actions to stabilize site conditions.
    At any stage prior to listing a site on the NPL, EPA may determine 
that no further response action under CERCLA is appropriate, and the 
site is given a NFRAP designation or it may be deferred to another 
authority for response action. This means that no additional Federal 
steps under CERCLA will be taken at the site unless further information 
warrants such action.
    According to the CERCLIS definition in Sec. 300.5 of the NCP, a 
site is not removed from the CERCLIS data base after evaluations have 
been completed. This would include sites that have been given a NFRAP 
designation. This means that over 20,000 NFRAP sites continued to 
remain in CERCLIS even though no further action was planned.
    In the revision to the NCP issued on March 8, 1990, (55 FR 8666) 
EPA explained that sites were not removed from the CERCLIS data base 
after completion of evaluations ``in order to document that the 
evaluation took place and to preclude the possibility that it be 
needlessly repeated.'' 40 CFR 300.5 (definition of CERCLIS); see also 
55 FR 8692-8693. This, of course, included NFRAP sites.
    Since the NCP revision, however, the CERCLIS data base has taken on 
more significance than EPA had intended. While inclusion of a site in 
CERCLIS does not represent a determination of any party's liability or 
a finding that any response action is necessary, numerous oral and 
written comments have come to EPA from property owners, the housing and 
banking industry, prospective purchasers of CERCLIS properties, and the 
general public indicating that there is an apparent yet unintended 
stigma attached to sites in CERCLIS. This stigma has resulted in 
economic drawbacks as well as the disincentive to purchase, improve, 
redevelop, and revitalize sites.
    Because of this unintended stigma, EPA has decided to change the 
way it handles NFRAP sites and will exclude sites designated as NFRAP 
from the CERCLIS inventory. NFRAP sites will be removed from CERCLIS 
and archived as historical records. A NFRAP designation means that no 
additional steps under the Federal Superfund program will be taken at 
the site unless new information arrives which indicates otherwise. This 
archived database will be retrievable and accessible to the public upon 
request.
    EPA Administrator Carol Browner announced the decision to remove 
NFRAP sites from the CERCLIS data base on January 25, 1995. Today's 
action formally amends the CERCLIS definition to implement the 
Administrator's announcement.
    EPA is also considering removing from CERCLIS other categories of 
sites at which the EPA Superfund program has no further involvement. 
These sites could include sites deleted from the NPL or those being 
addressed by EPA's corrective action program under the Resource 
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). In order to increase its 
flexibility in managing these sites on CERCLIS, EPA is also amending 
the CERCLIS definition to remove any statement that sites at which EPA 
has no further Superfund involvement will remain on CERCLIS. EPA has 
not made the decision on these other sites, yet, but will notify the 
public of any decision.
    In the 1990 revision to the NCP, EPA did respond to public comments 
on the structure of CERCLIS and decided to leave sites on CERCLIS even 
after completion of evaluations, including NFRAP sites. It was not 
necessary at that time to take comment on this issue, nor is it 
necessary now that EPA is amending the NCP. This is because the 
Administrative Procedure Act (APA), 5 U.S.C. 553(a), exempts from 
requirements for public notice and opportunity to comment any ``matter 
relating to agency management. * * *'' 5 U.S.C. 553(a)(2). How EPA 
structures its CERCLIS data base and management system is a matter 
relating to Agency management.
    To the extent it may be argued that public notice and opportunity 
to comment is required, EPA finds that good cause exists, under 5 
U.S.C. 553(b), not to apply these requirements because this amendment 
has no legal effect, and no effect on choosing Superfund cleanup 
actions, since the decision has already been make that there will be no 
further Superfund action at NFRAP sites. Therefore, compliance with 
notice and hearing requirements are unnecessary.
    According to its regulatory definition, at 40 CFR 300.5, CERCLIS is 
an EPA computerized database and ``management system that inventories 
and tracks releases addressed or needed to be addressed by the 
Superfund program.'' [Emphasis added]. It simply ``stores management 
information on all sites evaluated under Superfund.'' [Emphasis added]. 
See, Final Rule, National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan, 55 FR 8666 at 8693 (March 8, 1990). Designations in 
CERCLIS are only memorializations of Agency decisions already made. 
Today's action does not change the public's ability to obtain any 
information compiled at any time in the CERCLIS data base.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

    Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Chemicals, 
Hazardous materials, Hazardous substances, Intergovernmental relations, 
Natural resources, Occupational safety and health, Oil pollution, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Waste treatment 
and disposal, Water pollution control, Water supply.

    Dated: March 23, 1995.
Elliott P. Laws,
Assistant Administrator.
    Therefore, 40 CFR part 300 is amended as follows:

PART 300--[AMENDED]

    1. The authority citation for part 300 is revised to read as 
follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657; 33 U.S.C. 1321(c)(2); E.O. 
11735, 38 FR 21243; E.O. 12580, 52 FR 2923.

    2. Section 300.5 is amended by revising the definition for 
``CERCLIS'' to read as follows:


Sec. 300.5  Definitions.

* * * * *
    CERCLIS is the abbreviation of the CERCLA Information System, EPA's 
comprehensive data base and data management system that inventories and 
tracks releases addressed or needing to be addressed by the Superfund 
program. CERCLIS contains the official inventory of CERCLA sites and 
supports EPA's site planning and tracking functions. Sites that EPA 
decides do not warrant moving further in the site evaluation process 
are given a ``No Further Response Action Planned'' (NFRAP) designation. 
This means that no additional federal steps under CERCLA will be taken 
at the site unless [[Page 16055]] future information so warrants. Sites 
given a NFRAP designation are placed in a separate archival data base. 
Inclusion of a specific site or area in the CERCLIS data base does not 
represent a determination of any party's liability, nor does it 
represent a finding that any response action is necessary.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 95-7596 Filed 3-28-95; 8:45 am]
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