[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 47 (Friday, March 8, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 9401-9403]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-5530]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5436-5]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Newport Dump Superfund Site, Wilder, 
Kentucky, from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces 
its intent to delete the Newport Dump Site (the Site) from the National 
Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this proposed 
action. On May 16, 1988, EPA issued a notice announcing its intent to 
delete this site and others. The notice is being revised to conform to 
the most recent Site conditions. The NPL constitutes Appendix B of 40 
CFR part 300 which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances 
Contingency Plan (NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105 
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability 
Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the Commonwealth of Kentucky 
have determined that the Site poses no significant threat to public 
health and the environment and therefore, further remedial measures 
pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments may be submitted by midnight April 17, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Liza I. Montalvo, Remedial 
Project Manager, North Superfund Remedial Branch, U.S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, Region 4, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA 
30365.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
public docket which is available for viewing at the Newport Dump site 
information repositories at the following locations:

Campbell County Library, 403 Monmouth, Newport, KY, 41071.
U.S. EPA Record Center, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA, 30365.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Liza I. Montalvo, U.S. EPA Region 4, 
345 Courtland St., N.E., Atlanta, GA 30365, 404-347-3555 Ext. 2030 or 
1-800-435-9233 Ext. 2030.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces its 
intent to delete the Newport Dump site, Wilder, Kentucky, 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 its 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.
    The 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 the procedures that 

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EPA is using for this action. Section IV discusses the Newport Dump 
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 parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate responses 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.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this site: (1) EPA Region 4 has recommended deletion and has prepared 
the relevant documents, (2) The Commonwealth of Kentucky has concurred 
with the deletion decision, (3) Concurrent with this Revised Notice of 
Intent to Delete, a local notice has been published in local newspapers 
and has been distributed to appropriate federal, state and local 
officials, and other interested parties. This local notice announces a 
thirty (30) day public comment period, provides an address and 
telephone number for submission of comments, and identifies the 
location of the local site repository; and (4) Region 4 has made all 
relevant documents available in the Regional Office and local site 
information repository.
    Deletion of the Site 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 II of this Notice, 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 Region 4 will accept and evaluate 
public comments on EPA's Revised 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 EPA Regional Administrator places a 
final action 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 Region 4.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    The Newport Dump Site is a former municipal landfill located in the 
City of Wilder in Campbell County, Kentucky. Contiguous to the western 
boundary of the Site is the Licking River, a tributary of the Ohio 
River.

B. History

    The 39 acre Site was originally used by the City of Newport for the 
disposal of residential and commercial wastes from its opening in the 
late 1940's until its closure in 1979. During this period the Kentucky 
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection Cabinet 
(KDNREPC) cited the City of Newport for numerous waste disposal 
violations and the Site was eventually purchased by the Northern 
Kentucky Port Authority. In 1982, the Newport Dump Site was evaluated 
by the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) and received a score of 37.96 which 
ranked the Site number 359 in Group 8 on the National Priorities List 
(NPL). The basis for this NPL ranking was that the Newport Dump Site 
contained over 1,000,000 cubic yards of both hazardous and non-
hazardous commercial waste, the Site was adjoined on both the south and 
west boundaries by surface water stream and river, respectively and 
across the Licking River on the west was a potable water intake serving 
75,000 nearby residents.

C. Characterization of Risk

    A Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study ensued and 
discovered several inorganic contaminants, i.e., barium, chromium, 
nickel and organic compound, toluene, were leaching into the Licking 
River slightly above health base levels established by the Clean Water 
Act's Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs). A Record of Decision (ROD) 
signed at EPA Region 4, Atlanta, Georgia on March 27, 1987 selected the 
following response: monitoring groundwater and subsurface gas 
migration, construction of a leachate collection system and regrading 
revegetation of the 39 acre Site to prevent erosion. An Action Memo to 
authorize a removal action was signed in June 1987. This remedy was 
constructed and placed into operation within seven (7) months of the 
signing of the ROD and completed during December 1987. Groundwater, 
surface water, soil and sediment sampling were accomplished during the 
construction and post construction phases. Except for the waste source, 
the sampling results listed negligible (well below the MCL criteria) to 
non-detectable contaminant levels in the adjacent Licking River, and in 
both on-site and off-site media demonstrated no significant or 
potentially harmful migration of contaminants to off-site receptors.

D. Operation and Maintenance

    EPA Region 4 has performed the first year of Operation and 
Maintenance (O&M) activities as mandated in the ROD, which included 
multimedia monitoring of groundwater, surface water, underground gas 
migration, and leachate. In October 1992, the City of Newport entered 
into an agreement with EPA Region 4 to continue to perform O&M work at 
the Site. The City of Newport began such activities in June 1993.

E. Five-Year Review

    EPA finalized the first Five-Year Review for the Newport Dump Site 
in July 1993, in which groundwater, surface water, leachate, sediment 
and gas samples were collected. Groundwater data was compared to the 
MCL (July 1992), the Alternate Concentration Limits in the Newport ROD, 
and background levels. Surface Water data was evaluated using MCLs, 
July 1992, Water Quality Criteria (WQC), December, 1992 and Kentucky 
Surface Water Standards, January 1992. It was concluded that the 
contaminants detected in the ground water, surface water, and sediment 
do not pose a threat to human health and the environment, and that 
there appears to be no contribution from the landfill to these medias. 
Subsurface gas samples were analyzed for volatile organic compounds 
(VOCs) and methane. Hazardous gases were detected in three of the gas 
wells, however, only methane was detected above its lower explosive 
limit (LEL). These wells will continue to 

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be monitored, and methane field screening techniques will be performed 
on a quarterly basis to ensure gas is not migrating off-site.

F. Explanation of Significant Differences

    In January 1995, EPA Region 4 issued an Explanation of Significant 
Differences (ESD) for the Newport Dump Site to provide information on 
modifications to the selected remedy as originally described in the 
ROD, and to notify the public of O&M activities being conducted at the 
Site. The actions documented in the ESD included: the installation of a 
new drainage culvert, the construction of a french drain, and the shut 
down of the leachate collection system. In May 1990, EPA Region 4 
discontinued use of the leachate collection system because it appeared 
to be collecting groundwater, and operating the system was not 
providing a higher degree of protection to the environment. Since 
turning the system off, no problems have been encountered, and no 
significant increases in contamination in the surface water in the 
Licking River have occurred. In fact, the levels of contaminants in the 
leachate samples collected in the Five-Year Review were consistent with 
the surrounding groundwater.
    At this time, all appropriate Fund-financed response under CERCLA 
has been implemented, and no further response action by responsible 
parties is appropriate.

G. State Concurrence to Delete Newport Dump Site

    EPA, with concurrence of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, believes 
that the following criterion for deletion have been met: (1) EPA has 
implemented all appropriate response actions required; and (2) All 
appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented. Subsequently, 
EPA is proposing deletion of Newport Dump Site from the NPL. Documents 
supporting this action are available from the docket.

    Dated: February 23, 1996.
Phyllis P. Harris,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 4.
[FR Doc. 96-5530 Filed 3-7-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P