[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18565-18566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8882]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5188-1]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Hamilton Island (Site) from the
National Priorities List: Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces
its intent to delete the Hamilton Island site 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 the State of Washington Department of Ecology
(Ecology) have determined that the Site poses no significant threat to
public health or the environment and, therefore, remedial measures
pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.
DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before May
12, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Christopher Cora, U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop: HW-124,
Seattle, Washington 98101.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public docket which is available for
viewing at the Hamilton Island repositories at the following locations:
North Bonneville City Hall/Community Library North Bonneville,
Washington
Bonneville Dam Second Powerhouse and Bradford Island Visitor Center,
Skamania County, Washington
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, 333 S.W. First Street,
Portland, Oregon 97204
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher Cora, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth
Avenue, Mail Stop: HW-124, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-1148.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis of Intended Site Deletion
I. Introduction
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces its
intent to delete Hamilton Island 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 human health or the environment and maintains the
NPL as a list of those 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 actions.
EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for
thirty days after 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 procedures that EPA is using for
this action. Section IV discusses the Hamilton Island Site and explains
how the Site meets the deletion criteria.
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 persons have implemented all
appropriate response actions required;
(ii) All appropriate response under CERCLA have 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.
In the case of this Site, where no hazardous wastes are above health
based levels and future access does not require restriction, operation
[[Page 18566]] and maintenance activities and five-year reviews will
not be conducted. However, if new information becomes available which
indicates a need for further action, the federal government 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 Hazard Ranking System.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of
this Site: (1) EPA Region 10 selected No Action as the selected remedy
in the Record of Decision for the Site. The No Action Record of
Decision qualifies the Site for inclusion on the Superfund Site
Construction Completion List and may be used to initiate Deletion from
the NPL procedures. (2) The Washington State Department of Ecology
concurred 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 in the local Site
information repositories.
Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed
primarily for informational purposes to assist Agency management. As
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP
states that 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 if any significant public comments are
addressed.
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 site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposed deletion of this Site from the NPL.
Hamilton Island is located adjacent to the Columbia River,
approximately one and an half miles downstream from the Bonneville Dam,
in Skamania County Washington, 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The
area surrounding the Site is part of the Columbia River Gorge National
Scenic Area. Adjacent areas to the Site are used for commercial,
residential and open space.
The Site was used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for
the disposal of earthen materials and the old town of North Bonneville
during the construction of the Bonneville Dam Second Powerhouse between
1977 and 1982.
The Site was placed on the NPL on October 14, 1992 as a Federal
Facility. The basis of the listing was for possible releases of
arsenic, copper, lead, zinc and toluene above Ambient Water Quality
Criteria to the Columbia River and other sensitive ecological areas.
The USACE entered into a Federal Facility Agreement on September 24,
1993 with USEPA and the Department of Ecology to conduct a Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study and the necessary Remedial Actions.
The Remedial Investigation determined that there was not
unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, in fact the only
contamination, above federal or state health based levels, detected was
low level petroleum contamination in soils. On November 29, 1994 USACE
proposed, in consultation with EPA and Department of Ecology to take No
Action at the Site. No comments were received in opposition to the
proposal.
Human health and ecological risk assessments were performed to
assess current or future potential adverse human health or ecological
effects associated with exposure to chemicals detected in soils,
groundwater, surface water and sediments at Hamilton Island. Based on
comparison of site specific analytical data with EPA and State risk-
based screening criteria, ecological benchmarks, toxicity values, and
the detection frequency and exposure potential of chemical
constituents, it was concluded that chemicals at Hamilton Island do not
pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, under any
land use scenario. Accordingly, EPA will not conduct ``five-year
reviews'' at this Site.
One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may
delete a site from the NPL if ``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''. EPA, with concurrence of Ecology, believes that this
criterion for deletion has been met. It is concluded that there is no
significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore,
no further remedial action is necessary. Subsequently, EPA is proposing
deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action
are available from the docket.
Dated: March 30, 1995.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 95-8882 Filed 4-11-95; 8:45 am]
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