[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 61 (Thursday, March 28, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13794-13796]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-7602]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5447-7]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Howe Valley Landfill Superfund Site, 
Hardin County, Kentucky, from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces 
its intent to delete the Howe Valley Landfill Site (the Site) from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this 
proposed action. 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 responsible parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required at the Site and therefore, 
further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments may be submitted by midnight April 30, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Nestor Young, 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 Howe Valley 
Landfill Site information repositories at the following locations:

Hardin County Public Library, 201 West Dixie Avenue, Elizabethtown, KY, 
42701.

[[Page 13795]]

U.S. EPA Record Center, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA, 30365.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nestor Young, U.S. EPA Region 4, 345 
Courtland St., N.E., Atlanta, GA 30365, 404-347-3555 Ext. 2023 or 1-
800-435-9233.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces its 
intent to delete the Howe Valley Landfill Site, Hardin County, 
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 action in the Federal 
Register.
    Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites 
from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is using 
for this action. Section IV discusses the Howe Valley Landfill 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 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 individuals rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. 
As mentioned in Section II of this document, 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 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 sparsely vegetated, eleven (11) acre Howe Valley Landfill Site 
is situated at the end of Tom Duvall Lane, approximately 1.4 miles 
south of State Road 86 near the towns of Cecilia and Vertrees, 
Kentucky. The nearest community to the site is the unincorporated area 
of Howe Valley.

B. History

    Beginning in 1967, Kentucky Industrial Services, Inc. (KIS) used 
the Howe Valley Site as an industrial waste landfill. The landfill 
operated under the State-issued solid waste permit until June 1976, 
when the Site was formally closed.
    Upon the State's request, EPA conducted a Preliminary Assessment 
(PA) and Site Investigation (SI). EPA found that between 2,000 and 
5,000 drums were buried at the landfill, and confirmed that water 
flowed towards Linders Creek. EPA proposed the site for inclusion on 
the National Priorities List (NPL) in June 1986. The site was formally 
included on the NPL in July 1987.
    Under an Administrative Order with EPA, two Potentially Responsible 
Parties (PRPS) agreed to conduct a Removal Action and a Remedial 
Investigation (RI)/Feasibility Study (FS). The Removal Action, 
performed in the summer of 1988, involved excavating a total of 9,150 
full or partially filled drums; 1,621 empty drums; 6,000 small 
containers; and 3,000 cubic yards of non-containerized waste. All 
wastes and highly contaminated soils were sent off-site for permanent 
disposal at a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) approved 
landfill.
    On September 28, 1990, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which 
selected a remedy for contaminated soil still remaining on-site. The 
major components of the remedy selected consisted of excavation and 
off-site disposal of contaminated soil from the outer area and, on-site 
treatment of contaminated soil from the central area.
    The selected remedy included the following:
     Excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soil 
containing elevated concentrations of inorganic compounds.
     Implementation of a bench-scale treatability study to 
insure that the selected aeration treatment (rototilling) will reduce 
organic concentrations to acceptable levels.
     Excavation and treatment of central area soil by aeration 
via rototilling.
     Five years of quarterly monitoring of Boutwell Spring and 
any additional springs or wells that lay along the groundwater conduit 
between the site and Boutwell Spring.
     Placement of deed restrictions to limit usage of the 
property and its associated groundwater.
    Following issuance of the ROD in September 1990, EPA entered into 
negotiations with Dow Corning

[[Page 13796]]
Corporation (Dow) to conduct the final clean-up. An agreement between 
EPA and Dow was entered in the United States District Court on May 22, 
1991.
    Final cleanup actions were conducted between November 1991 and July 
1994. On August 30, 1994, Dow's contractor submitted a Remedial Action 
Report signifying successful completion of the remedial activities. The 
report documents and discusses the work performed at the site. KDEP 
concurred with the Remedial Action Report. The work was completed at a 
cost of $2,928,681.

C. Characterization of Risk

    Samples collected during the Removal and findings made in the RI/FS 
indicated unacceptable levels of contamination in subsurface soils, 
located in the central area and an outlying area of the site. Organic 
contaminants were concentrated primarily in the central area, and the 
outlying area contained only inorganic contaminants. In both these 
areas, the contaminants were located within the near-surface (1 to 2 
feet deep) and subsurface (3 to 9 feet deep) of the Site.
    At completion of the remedial action, confirmatory sampling 
verified that: (1) The ROD cleanup objectives were achieved, (2) all 
actions specified in the ROD were implemented, and (3) the Site no 
longer posed any threats to human health and the environment.

D. Operation and Maintenance

    Since all of the contaminated soil was remediated, and quarterly 
monitoring of Boutwell Spring was terminated, no long term Operation 
and Maintenance (O&M) activities associated with the site are required.

E. Five-Year Review

    EPA Region 4 has determined that the remedial action completed has 
attained the site remediation objectives outlined in the ROD and that 
no hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remain on-site 
exceeding concentrations that will restrict unlimited use of the site 
or threaten human health through unlimited exposure. Therefore, a 5-
year review of this site will not be required.

F. Explanation of Significant Differences

    The remedy selected in the ROD was modified in two instances by 
issuance of an Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD). The first 
ESD was issued in March 1993. This ESD modified the remedy to include: 
removal of additional drums and contaminated material; identification 
of subsurface soils containing an organic liquid and development of a 
cleanup plan; and treatment of contaminated rainwater collected during 
the excavation.
    The second ESD was issued in August 1995 and it was done primarily 
to eliminate the ROD requirement for 5 years of monitoring of Boutwell 
Spring and the requirement for deed restrictions. Both of these 
requirements were dropped due to the fact that the cleanup objectives 
in the ROD were met, and no hazardous substances, pollutants, or 
contaminants remained onsite that would restrict unlimited use of or 
exposure to the Site.

G. State Concurrence to Delete the Howe Valley Site

    The Commonwealth of Kentucky concurred with the deletion of the 
Site by letter dated December 7, 1995. EPA, with concurrence of the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky, believes that the following criterion for 
deletion have been met: (1) Responsible parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required; and (2) No further response 
action by responsible parties is appropriate. Subsequently, EPA is 
proposing deletion of Howe Valley Landfill Site from the NPL. Documents 
supporting this action are available from the public docket.

    Dated: March 14, 1996.
Phyllis P. Harris,
Acting Deputy Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 4.
[FR Doc. 96-7602 Filed 3-27-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P