[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 115 (Thursday, June 15, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31440-31442]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-14546]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------


ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5220-9]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete flowood site from the National 
Priorities List (NPL): Request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: EPA, Region IV (EPA) announces its intent to delete the 
Flowood Site from the 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 of 1980 
(CERCLA). EPA and the State of Mississippi (State) have determined that 
all appropriate CERCLA actions have been implemented and that no 
further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate. Moreover, EPA 
and the state have determined that remedial activities conducted at the 
site to date have been protective of public health, welfare, and the 
environment.

DATES: Comments concerning the proposed deletion of this Site will be 
accepted until July 17, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Lt. Mark A. Marshall, USPHS, 
Remedial Project Manager, South Superfund Remedial Branch, Waste 
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, 
345 Courtland Street, NE., Atlanta, GA 30365.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA 
Region IV public docket, which is located at EPA's Region IV 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 to the EPA Region IV Docket Office.
    The address for the Regional Docket Office is: Ms. Debbie Jourdan, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, 345 Courtland Street, 
NE., Atlanta, Georgia 30365, Telephone No.: (404) 347-2930.
    Background information from the regional public docket is also 
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at the 
following address: Pearl Public Library, 3470 Highway 80 East, Pearl, 
Mississippi 39208, telephone No.: (601) 932-2562.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lt. Mark A. Marshall, USPHS, Remedial 
Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, 345 
Courtland Street, NE., Atlanta, Georgia 30365, (404) 347-2643 ext. 
6271.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletions

I. Introduction

    EPA announces its intent to delete the Flowood Site in Rankin 
County, Mississippi from the National Priorities List (NPL) which 
constitutes Appendix B on the National Oil and Hazardous Substances 
Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), and requests comments on this 
proposed 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 those sites. Sites on the NPL may be 
the subject of remedial actions financed by the Hazardous Substances 
Superfund Response Trust Fund (Fund). Pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of 
the NCP, any site deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-
financed Remedial Actions in the event that conditions at the site 
warrant such action. EPA will accept comments concerning this Site for 
thirty (30) calendar days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.
    Section II of this notice explains the criteria for the deletion of 
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that 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 the EPA uses to delete sites 
from the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), releases may be 
deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making this determination, EPA will 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; or
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed response under CERCLA has 
been implemented, and no further response action by responsible 
parties is appropriate; or
    (iii) The remedial investigation has determined that the release 
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, taking or remedial measures is not appropriate.

    Pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from 
the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed Remedial Actions in the 
event that conditions at the site warrant such action.

III. Deletion Procedures

    EPA will accept and evaluate public comments before making a final 
decision to delete. Comments from the local community may be the most 
pertinent to deletion decisions. The following procedures were used for 
the intended deletion of this Site:

    (1) EPA has recommended deletion and has prepared the relevant 
documents.
    (2) The State has concurred with the deletion decision.
    (3) A local notice has been published in local newspapers and 
has been distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local 
officials, and other interested parties. [[Page 31441]] 
    (4) EPA has made all relevant documents available in the 
Regional Office and local site information repository.

    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter, or 
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designated 
primarily for information purposes and to assist EPA management. As 
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, 40 C.F.R. 300.425(e)(3) states 
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for 
future Fund-financed response actions.
    Any comments received during the notice and comment period will be 
evaluated before the final decision to delete. EPA will prepare a 
Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address any comments 
received during the public comment period.
    A deletion occurs after the EPA Region IV 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 IV.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The Flowood Superfund Site (``Site'') is located in the town of 
Flowood, Rankin County, Mississippi along Highway 468 on the east side 
of the Pearl River, east of Jackson, Mississippi. The site encompasses 
approximately 225 acres and consists mostly of wetlands and lowlands in 
the alluvial plain of the Pearl River. The Site is separated from the 
river by two levees. Two manufacturing facilities have operated at the 
Flowood site since the 1940's or longer. The Continental Forest Company 
owned the northern part of the property from 1956 to 1983 when the 
facility was purchased by the present owner, the Stone Container 
Corporation. The facility to the south, currently the Rival 
Manufacturing Company, has been used to manufacture stoneware cooking 
pots since the 1970's. The past owner, The Marmon Group, used the 
facility from the 1950's through the early 1970's to manufacture 
ceramic tiles. The United Gas Pipe Line Company also owns a portion of 
the Site. The Site consisted of wastewater discharge areas and 
downstream areas adjacent to the two manufacturing facilities. The 
immediate area of the site included a borrow pit (Lake Marie), a canal 
used as a discharge area, and other undeveloped land areas adjacent to 
the plant sites.
    State environmental officials became aware of the presence of 
hazardous substances in an on-site canal during a routine industrial 
waste water inspection in the fall of 1982. In January 1983, the state 
reported the Site to EPA. EPA's investigation indicated that soils and 
sediments in five areas around the Site contained lead: the slough/
canal area, the small drainage ditch, the wash area, the drainage 
ditch/Lake Marie area, and the cow pasture pond area. At the request of 
the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ), the Site 
was placed on the NPL in September 1983. The Marmon Group entered into 
a consent Agreement with EPA in 1986 to conduct the Remedial 
Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) for the site to determine 
the nature and extent of lead contamination and evaluated various 
remedial alternatives to reduce any risks posed by the contamination.
    After reviewing the results of the RI/FS, EPA selected a remedy to 
address lead contamination at the Site and issued a Record of Decision 
(ROD) for the Site on September 30, 1988. The selected remedy included 
the following components: excavating and solidifying/stabilizing 6,000 
cubic yards of lead-contaminated soils sediments; no remedial action 
for groundwater; backfilling treated materials into the slough/canal 
area; covering, regrading, and reseeding the area; and, groundwater 
monitoring. EPA and the Potentially Responsible Parties (PRP), The 
Marmon Corporation, Rival Manufacturing Company, United Gas Pipe Line 
Company and Kiewit Continental Inc. entered into a Consent Decree in 
February 1990 for the PRP to design and implement the cleanup remedy. 
The PRP began remedial design in February 1990 and EPA approved the 
final design of the remedy on August 9, 1991.
    Based on design data developed by the PRP prior to the final 
design, EPA found that changes to the selected remedy were necessary. 
EPA implemented an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) in 
September 1990 which included two modifications to EPA's selected 
remedy based on treatability studies and confirmatory sampling 
conducted during the Remedial Design. The first modification required a 
change in the location of the on-site disposal area (the Material 
Placement Area) due to the discovery of additional volumes of 
contaminated material in the Rival Plant backyard and other areas. The 
additional volumes required location of a new on-site disposal area to 
accommodate the volume. The second modification required the use of an 
interim measures waiver of Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate 
Requirements (ARARs) which temporarily waives the RCRA requirement that 
hazardous waste must be contained in a Subtitle C facility. This waiver 
was necessary because treatability testing during the design revealed 
that the treatment process might not render the final product non-RCRA 
characteristic until after a period of time.
    A community relations program was implemented during the course of 
the RI/FS. In June 1985, the community relations plan was finalized. An 
information repository was established in June at the Pearl Public 
Library. A press release providing an opportunity for a public meeting 
and information on the opening of the public comment period was issued 
in May 1988. The public comment for the proposed plan was held from May 
18, 1988 through June 22, 1988. There was no public meeting because the 
public did not show an interest in having a public meeting.
    The Remedial Action objective for the site was to eliminate 
potential health hazards due to the presence of lead at the Site. 
Current and potential routes of exposure at the Site include ingestion 
of contaminated soil, fish and groundwater by humans and ingestion of 
contaminated surface waters by cattle. Based on the risks associated 
with exposure to soil in the pathways identified, a protective level of 
500 mg/kg of lead was established. Groundwater sampling did not show 
impact to groundwater for the waste material; therefore, cleanup goals 
for the groundwater were not established. EPA determined that 
groundwater monitoring in the stabilized material placement area would 
measure the effectiveness of the stabilization. The remediation of the 
contaminated soil and contaminated sediments to 500 mg/kg would 
alleviate future impacts to surface water.
    The Remedial Design was approved on August 9, 1991. As part of the 
design, a treatability study was conducted. The results of the 
treatability study are contained in the Remedial Design report.
    Additional work was required for the excavation of lake sediments 
in Lake Marie; therefore, the completion of the remedial construction 
activities were implemented in two phases. On April 2, 1993, EPA, MDEQ, 
and the PRP conducted a Prefinal Construction Inspection for Phase I of 
the Remedial Action. A Prefinal Inspection for the Phase II Remedial 
Action was conducted on July 20, 1993. Neither the Phase I nor Phase II 
Prefinal Inspections revealed any significant items remaining to be 
completed or corrected. [[Page 31442]] 
    To prevent a future use of the property which could disturb the 
integrity of the containment of contamination provided by the building 
slabs, institutional controls have been imposed on those areas of 
concern. These institutional controls take the form of deed 
restrictions which are in addition to those imposed on the Material 
Placement Area (MPA). These deed restrictions will insure that the 
remedy remains protective of human health and the environment. Remedial 
activities were conducted as planned. No additional areas of 
contamination were identified beyond the discovery of contained 
contaminated soils beneath structures in the Rival Back Yard (RBY) and 
the expansion of other areas containing lead contaminated soils and 
sediments, and the sediments in Lake Marie. The remedial action which 
was finalized in accordance with the ROD and the Consent Decree put 
into place deed restrictions in the areas of concern in the RBY and the 
Material Placement Area.
    The Remedial Design and the Remedial Action were carefully reviewed 
by EPA and MDEQ for compliance with all requirements of the ROD and 
with all applicable Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) 
procedures and protocol.
    All procedures and protocols followed for soil and sediment 
sampling analysis during the Post-remediation verification sampling are 
documented in the Post Remediation Verification Sampling Plan. This 
sampling plan is contained in the Construction Management Plan dated 
May 8, 1992, as was modified in the field. A Quality Assurance Project 
Plan (QAPP) was prepared, consistent with the requirements of EPA's 
Interim Guidelines and Specifications for preparing Quality Assurance 
Project Plans (QAM-005/80), and in conjunction with the design 
documents. This QAPP was later modified and used to implement the 
Remedial Action.
    The QA/QC program utilized throughout the Remedial Action was 
acceptable and enabled EPA and MDEQ to determine that the testing 
results reported were accurate to the degree needed to assure 
satisfactory execution of the Remedial Action and consistent with the 
ROD.
    The verification sampling performed across the site have indicated 
that all cleanup levels have been achieved and the construction was 
completed consistent with the ROD and design plans and specifications. 
Throughout the construction, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (COE) 
provided oversight of the Remedial Action on behalf of EPA. The COE 
conducted frequent inspections of all site construction activities and 
submitted written monthly reports that described the results of its 
inspections.
    Laboratory results have indicated that the remedy has achieved 
performance standards and met the cleanup levels established in the 
ROD. Interpretation of this analytical data indicate that the remedy 
has been constructed in accordance with the Remedial Design plans and 
specifications and is achieving the primary purpose of preventing human 
health risks from contamination of on-site soils and sediments.
    As required by the Consent Decree (CD), the Settling Parties 
submitted the final Operation and Maintenance (O&M) Plan to EPA on 
November 12, 1993. The ROD requires that groundwater monitoring be 
performed quarterly for the first year. EPA will review the data and a 
decision will be made on the frequency of monitoring for the subsequent 
years.
    Four groundwater monitoring wells were installed in and around the 
MPA. These wells will be used to monitor the long-term performance of 
the Material Placement Area on the quality of the groundwater. Samples 
from each monitoring well will be collected and analyzed for the lead 
(total lead). Statistical analysis will be employed to determine if the 
MPA is having an adverse affect on the area groundwater.
    In accordance with EPA guidance, a five year review of this project 
is necessary to ensure continued protection of human health and the 
environment. The statutory five-year review will be conducted pursuant 
to guidance contained in OSWER Directive 9355.7-02, Structure and 
Components of the Five-Year Review. The five year time frame began on 
June 22, 1992, the Remedial Action contract award date. Therefore, the 
five year review should be completed on or before June 22, 1997.
    EPA, with concurrence of the State, has determined that all 
appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA at the Site have been 
completed, and that no further cleanup by responsible parties is 
appropriate. Therefore, it proposes to delete the Site from the NPL and 
requests public comments on the proposed deletion.

    Dated: June 1, 1995.
Patrick M. Tobin,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 95-14546 Filed 6-14-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P