[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 87 (Friday, May 3, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19889-19891]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11078]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5465-5]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Whiteford Sales & Service Superfund 
Site South Bend, Indiana.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 announces 
its intent to delete the Whiteford Sales & Service, Inc. (WSS) site 
from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on 
this proposed action. As specified in Appendix B of 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), it has been determined that all appropriate Fund-
financed responses at the site under CERCLA have been implemented. EPA, 
in consultation with the State of Indiana, has determined that the WSS 
site poses no significant threat to public

[[Page 19890]]

health or the environment and that no further clean-up action at the 
site is appropriate. Deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude 
eligibility for subsequent Fund-financed actions if future conditions 
warrant such action.

DATES: Comments concerning this proposed NPL deletion may be submitted 
June 3, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Mary Tierney, U.S. EPA Region 5 
(SR-6J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604.
    Comprehensive information on the WSS site is available at the local 
information repository located at the St. Joseph County Public Library, 
Main Branch, 122 W. Wayne St., South Bend, Indiana. Requests for copies 
of documents should be directed to: E. Levy, U.S. EPA Region 5 (MRI-
13J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Mary Tierney, U.S. EPA Region 5 (SR-6J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, 
IL 60604, (312) 886-4785.
Dave Novak, U.S. EPA Region 5 (P-19J), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 
60604, (312) 886-9840.
Mary McAuliffe, U.S. EPA Region 5 (C-29A), 77 W. Jackson Blvd., 
Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 886-6237.
Scott Hansen, IDEM, 100 N. Senate Ave., P.O. Box 6015, Indianapolis, IN 
46206, (317) 233-0542.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

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

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 announces 
its intent to delete the Whiteford Sales & Service, Inc. (WSS) site 
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 proposed deletion. The 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. As described in section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites 
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for additional Fund-financed 
remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site 
warrant such actions.
    EPA will accept comments on this proposal to delete the WSS site 
from the NPL for 30 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 history of the WSS site and 
explains how the site meets the deletion criteria. Section V summarizes 
the conclusions of this notice.

II. Deletion Criteria

    The 1985 amendments to the NCP established the criteria the EPA 
uses to delete a site from the NPL. Section 40 CFR 300.425(e) provides 
that sites ``may be deleted from or recategorized on the NPL where no 
further response is appropriate''. In making a determination to delete 
a site 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 Fund-financed response under CERCLA has 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 under CERCLA.
    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude its eligibility 
for subsequent Fund-financed actions if future site conditions warrant 
such actions. Section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP states that Fund-
financed actions may be taken at sites that have been deleted from the 
NPL. Deletion of sites from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or obligations.

III. Deletion Procedures

    Upon determination that at least one of the criteria described in 
section 300.425(e) of the NCP has been met, EPA may formally begin 
deletion procedures. The steps that have occurred prior to publication 
of this notice of intent to delete from the NPL are: (1) EPA, with the 
concurrence of the Indiana Department of Environmental Management 
(IDEM), issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which provided for No Action 
to be taken at the WSS site; (2) IDEM concurred with the proposed 
deletion decision; and (3) a local information repository was updated 
and a deletion docket established. This Federal Register notice, and a 
concurrent notice in the local newspaper in the site area, announce the 
initiation of a 30-day public comment period on EPA's notice of intent 
to delete the WSS site from the NPL. The notice has also been 
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials, and 
other interested parties.
    All comments from the public on EPA's intention to delete the WSS 
site from the NPL are requested at this time. Critical documents for 
evaluating EPA's decision are available in the information repository 
and deletion docket at the location listed on the first page of this 
notice. Upon completion of the public comment period, the EPA Regional 
Office will prepare a responsiveness summary to evaluate and address 
concerns which were raised during the comment period. The public is 
welcome to contact the EPA Regional Office to obtain a copy of this 
responsiveness summary. If, after reviewing public comments, EPA still 
determines that deletion from the NPL is appropriate for this site, a 
Final Notice of Deletion will be published in the Federal Register. The 
WSS site will then be officially deleted at the time of the subsequent 
NPL rulemaking.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following summary provides the EPA's rationale for the proposal 
to delete the WSS site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    The WSS site covers an area of approximately 11 acres and was 
formerly the location of a truck washing and leasing operation. The 
site is located within the city limits of South Bend, St. Joseph 
County, Indiana, approximately 1\1/2\ miles southwest of downtown. The 
area in the vicinity of the site is primarily commercial and light 
industrial in nature. Exit and entrance ramps for a street overpass 
border the site on its north and west sides, a scrap yard is located 
east of the site, and truck warehousing operations are located to the 
south. A municipal well field, currently not in operation, is located 
800 feet west of the site. The WSS site now serves as a storm water 
retention basin for collection of run-off from the adjacent street 
overpass and from nearby streets.

B. Site History

    Truck washing and leasing activities occurred at the WSS site from 
1967 through 1983. During its operation, the facility used various 
solvents and detergents to clean and degrease truck frames and engines. 
Floor drains in the truck washing areas discharged to three unlined dry 
wells on the property.
    In 1980, St. Joseph County purchased the property from the former 
owners in order to construct the street overpass now adjacent to the 
site. Truck washing

[[Page 19891]]

operations continued at the site until 1983 when overpass construction 
work began. Excavation activities conducted as part of the overpass 
construction led to the discovery of the three on-site dry wells. 
Sludge from the wells was found to be Resource Conservation and 
Recovery Act (RCRA) characteristic due to ignitability. In June 1987, 
under a Consent Decree signed by the former owners of the property, St. 
Joseph County and IDEM, approximately 210 cubic yards of soil and 
sludge were removed from in and around the dry wells and disposed of 
properly. Because a RCRA facility upgradient from the WSS site was a 
documented source of volatile organic compound (VOC) groundwater 
contamination, it was not clear what contribution the contamination on 
the WSS site may have had on the adjacent municipal well field. Due to 
the historical VOC contamination of the municipal well field west of 
the site, the potential for groundwater contamination at the WSS site 
to migrate to the well field, and the soil contamination discovered at 
WSS, the site was scored using the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) method, 
was proposed for NPL listing in June 1988, and was placed on the NPL in 
October 1990. A remedial investigation was conducted at the site from 
September to December 1990 to characterize the nature and extent of 
contamination and to assess potential risks to human health and the 
environment that the site posed.
    Based on the results of the remedial investigation and the site 
baseline risk assessment, a Proposed Plan recommending No Action was 
prepared. A public meeting was held to address questions about the 
recommendation, and EPA responded to all public comments. None of the 
comments received voiced objections to the recommended action. A ROD 
for the WSS site was signed on September 29, 1995, which documented the 
decision that no further remedial action was necessary at the site due 
to the lack of unacceptable risks posed by the site to human health and 
the environment.

C. Characterization of Risk

    The remedial investigation of the WSS site included the collection 
of seventeen (17) surface and subsurface soil samples, the installation 
and sampling of eleven (11) monitoring wells, and the collection of 
groundwater samples from one adjacent extraction well and six municipal 
wells. All samples were analyzed for VOCs, semi-volatile organic 
compounds (SVOCs), base/neutral extractable compounds, pesticides, 
polychlorinated biphenyls, and inorganic compounds (including metals). 
Sampling results were used to prepare a baseline risk assessment for 
the site. After results from the baseline risk assessment were 
carefully analyzed by an EPA toxicologist, EPA determined that the WSS 
site does not pose a significant current or future risk to human health 
or the environment. An investigation at and cleanup of the RCRA 
facility upgradient of the WSS site that is a documented source of VOC 
contamination in groundwater continues under oversight from the RCRA 
Program. In addition, monitoring of wells in all of the City of South 
Bend municipal well fields continues under the auspices of the State of 
Indiana to ensure that all requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act 
(SDWA) are being met.

V. Conclusion

    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 from IDEM, has determined that 
this criterion for deletion has been met. Consequently, EPA is 
proposing deletion of the WSS site from the NPL. Documents supporting 
this action are available in the site deletion docket.

    Dated: April 11, 1996.
David A. Ullrich,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-11078 Filed 5-2-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P