[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 92 (Friday, May 10, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21422-21425]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11481]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5502-2]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Marathon Battery Company site 
from the National Priorities List: Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II announces 
its intent to delete the Marathon Battery Company site from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this 
action. The NPL is 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), as 
amended. EPA and the State of New York have determined that no further 
cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate under CERCLA. Moreover, 
EPA and the State have determined that CERCLA activities conducted at 
the Marathon Battery Company site to date have been protective of 
public health, welfare, and the environment.

DATES: Comments concerning the deletion of the Marathon Battery Company 
site from the NPL may be submitted on or before June 7, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments concerning the deletion of the Marathon Battery 
Company site from the NPL may be submitted to: Pamela Tames, P.E., 
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
II, 290 Broadway, 20th floor, New York, NY 10007-1866.
    Comprehensive information on the Marathon Battery Company site is 
contained in the EPA Region II public docket, which is located at EPA's 
Region II office (the 18th floor), and is available for viewing, by 
appointment only, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, 
excluding

[[Page 21423]]

holidays. For further information, or to request an appointment to 
review the public docket, please contact Ms. Tames at (212) 637-4255.
    Background information from the Regional public docket is also 
available for viewing at the Marathon Battery Company site's 
Administrative Record repository located at: Julia Butterfield Memorial 
Library, Morris Avenue, Cold Spring, NY 10516.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    EPA Region II announces its intent to delete the Marathon Battery 
Company site from the NPL and requests public comment on this action. 
The NPL is Appendix B to the NCP, which EPA promulgated pursuant to 
Section 105 of CERCLA, as amended. 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 (RAs) financed by the 
Hazardous Substances Superfund Response Trust Fund (the ``Fund''). 
Pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from the 
NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed RAs, if conditions at such site 
warrant action.
    EPA will accept comments concerning the Marathon Battery Company 
site for thirty (30) days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register (until June 7, 1996).
    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 how the Marathon Battery Company 
site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria that the Agency uses to delete 
sites from the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR Section 300.425(e), sites 
may be deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. 
In making this determination, EPA, in consultation with the State, will 
consider whether any of the following criteria have been met:
    1. That responsible or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required; or
    2. All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented, and no further cleanup by responsible parties is 
appropriate; or
    3. The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses no 
significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, 
taking remedial measures is not appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The NCP provides that EPA shall not delete a site from the NPL 
until the State in which the release was located has concurred, and the 
public has been afforded an opportunity to comment on the proposed 
deletion. Deletion of a site from the NPL does not affect responsible 
party liability or impede agency efforts to recover costs associated 
with response efforts. The NPL is designed primarily for informational 
purposes and to assist agency management.
    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the 
Marathon Battery Company site:
    1. EPA Region II has recommended deletion and has prepared the 
relevant documents.
    2. The State of New York has concurred with the deletion decision.
    3. Concurrent with this Notice of Intent to Delete, a notice has 
been published in local newspapers and has been distributed to 
appropriate federal, state and local officials, and other interested 
parties. This notice announces a thirty (30)-day public comment period 
on the deletion package starting on May 8, 1996 and concluding on June 
7, 1996.
    4. The Region has made all relevant documents available in the 
regional office and the local site information repository.
    EPA Region II will accept and evaluate public comments and prepare 
a Responsiveness Summary, which will address the comments received, 
before a final decision is made. The Agency believes that deletion 
procedures should focus on notice and comment at the local level. 
Comments from the local community may be most pertinent to deletion 
decisions. If, after consideration of these comments, EPA decides to 
proceed with deletion, the EPA Regional Administrator will place a 
Notice of Deletion in the Federal Register. The NPL will reflect any 
deletions in the next update. Public notices and copies of the 
Responsiveness Summary will be made available to the public by EPA 
Region II.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

Site History and Background

    The Marathon Battery Company site, located in the Village of Cold 
Spring, Putnam County, New York, includes a former nickel-cadmium 
battery manufacturing facility, the Hudson River in the vicinity of the 
Cold Spring pier, and a series of river backwater areas known as East 
Foundry Cove, East Foundry Cove Marsh, Constitution Marsh, and West 
Foundry Cove. Before the site was remediated, a battery plant and an 
underground asphalt- and clay-lined vault containing spoils from 
dredging activities in the cove, were located on the facility's 
grounds. Twenty-nine houses, located on Constitution Drive, are in the 
vicinity of the site.
    Nickel-cadmium batteries were manufactured at the plant from 1952-
1979. The plant's wastewater treatment system originally consisted of a 
lift station and piping for transfer of all process wastewater into the 
Cold Spring sewer system for discharge directly into the Hudson River 
at the Cold Spring pier. In addition, a by-pass valve was installed so 
that when the lift station was shut down or overloaded, a direct 
gravity discharge could be made into the Kemble Avenue storm sewer for 
discharge into Foundry Cove.
    In the early 1970s, studies conducted by New York University, EPA, 
and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 
(NYSDEC) showed high levels of cadmium contamination in Foundry Cove 
sediments. Samples of vegetation and various species of fish, muskrat, 
turtle eggs, and green heron revealed high concentrations of cadmium, 
as well.
    In 1972, the U.S. Department of Justice signed a Consent Agreement 
requiring the present and past owners/operators to remove as much 
cadmium from the outfall area and channel leading into the cove as was 
economically, technically, and ecologically feasible. The dredge spoils 
were entombed in the above-described vault. The dredging, however, was 
not totally successful. Post-dredging monitoring continued to detect 
elevated cadmium concentrations in the cove's sediments, flora, and 
fauna. Tidal action slowly flushed some of the remaining cadmium 
deposits from the cove into the Hudson River and into Constitution 
Marsh, a National Audubon Society sanctuary.
    In October 1981, the Marathon Battery Company site was included on 
the NPL. In August 1983, EPA and the State of New York signed a 
Cooperative Agreement to undertake a remedial investigation and 
feasibility study (RI/FS) at the Marathon Battery Company site. The 
results of the RI sediment sampling program indicated widespread heavy 
metal contamination of the sediments and marsh soils of Foundry

[[Page 21424]]

Cove. The highest level of contamination occurred in East Foundry Cove 
Marsh in close proximity to the Kemble Avenue outfall. This area, 
characterized by a layer of greenish-white sediment spanning an 
approximately 50 by 100 foot area, showed concentrations as high as 
171,000, 156,000, and 6,700 milligrams/kilogram (mg/kg) for cadmium, 
nickel, and cobalt, respectively. Cadmium levels as high as 2,200 mg/kg 
were found in the Hudson River in the vicinity of the Cold Spring pier.
    Samples from the former battery facility indicated contamination as 
high as 120,000 mg/kg cadmium and 130,000 mg/kg nickel in the rafters, 
and up to 600 mg/kg cadmium on the surrounding grounds. Cadmium 
concentrations up to 67 mg/kg were found in soils in the adjacent 
residential yards.
    In March 1986, NYSDEC requested that EPA assume the lead role for 
this project. EPA's contractor completed a supplemental RI/FS for the 
East Foundry Cove Marsh/Constitution Marsh portion of the site (Area I) 
in August 1986.
    On September 30, 1986, a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed for 
Area I, calling for the dredging of the contaminated sediments 
exceeding 100 mg/kg, placement of a clay cap and soil cover on the 
excavated marsh areas, restoration of the marsh, chemical fixation of 
the excavated sediments, followed by their off-site disposal. Long-term 
monitoring was selected for Constitution Marsh.
    Supplemental RI activities for the former battery facility (Area 
II) were completed in April 1988. A ROD for this operable unit was 
signed on September 30, 1988. The selected remedy included 
decontamination of the interior of the former battery plant building 
and its contents, excavation and chemical fixation of the dredge spoils 
vault, excavation and chemical fixation of the cadmium-contaminated 
soils on the plant grounds and adjacent properties which exceeded 20 
mg/kg (determined by a risk assessment), enhanced volatilization of the 
volatile organic compound (VOC)-contaminated soils, and off-site 
disposal of the contaminated dust and fixated soils. Long-term 
monitoring was selected for the VOC-contaminated ground water 
underlying the site. (A search for VOC-contaminated soils on the plant 
grounds during the design failed to find a source area. Therefore, the 
enhanced volatilization component of the selected remedy was not 
designed. The subsequent demolition of the building revealed elevated 
levels of VOCs in some sections of the sealed process trenches and an 
ejector pit. The contents of the process trench and ejector pit were 
sent to an off-site facility for treatment/disposal.)
    An RI/FS for the East Foundry Cove, West Foundry Cove, and Hudson 
River in the vicinity of the Cold Spring pier portion of the site (Area 
III) was completed in June 1989. The Area III ROD was signed on 
September 26, 1989. The selected remedy called for dredging one foot of 
contaminated sediments to achieve a 95% removal rate from East Foundry 
Cove and the Hudson River in the vicinity of the Village of the Cold 
Spring pier, followed by chemical fixation and off-site disposal. Long-
term monitoring was selected for West Foundry Cove, a depositional 
area.
    A consolidated design for Areas I, II (the dredge spoils vault and 
the plant grounds), and III was completed in May 1992.
    Following the completion of field investigations to more fully 
delineate the areas of the adjacent residential properties that 
required remediation, in May 1992, this portion of the Area II 
remediation effort commenced. When the remedial action was completed in 
March 1993, approximately 1,600 cubic yards of contaminated soil had 
been excavated and removed.
    On March 26, 1989, EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order 
(UAO) to Marathon Battery Company, Gould Inc., and Merchandise 
Dynamics, the property owner, requiring them to decontaminate the 
interior of the 114,000-square foot former battery plant (which at the 
time was an abandoned book repository) and its contents, to recycle the 
decontaminated books, and to properly dispose of contaminated 
materials. Following the performance of a pilot-scale study conducted 
by Marathon Battery Company's and Gould Inc.'s contractor to evaluate 
decontamination techniques, the facility, as well as 4,170 pallets 
containing approximately 2.5 million books were decontaminated. Twelve 
of seventy-six rolloffs containing debris from the building were 
determined to contain hazardous debris and were disposed of at Chemical 
Waste Management's hazardous landfill in Model City, New York. The 
remaining rolloffs were sent to Waste Management's Modern Landfill in 
York, Pennsylvania. While the book and building decontamination work 
was completed in December 1991, due to the limited production rate of 
available book recycling companies, the recycling of the books 
continued until March 1993.
    A Consent Decree, in which Gould Inc. agreed to perform the 
remedial action and the remaining PRPs, Marathon Battery Company and 
the U.S. Army, agreed to a cash settlement, was entered with the 
Southern District Court on April 1, 1993. Gould Inc., as the Settling 
Work Defendant, chose Sevenson Environmental Services as its 
contractor. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) performed 
oversight of the work effort.
    Full-scale dredging of East Foundry Cove Marsh and East Foundry 
Cove and the excavation of the plant grounds began in September 1993. 
The treated sediments and soils were stockpiled on the treatment area 
for curing and post-treatment testing prior to off-site disposal at 
City Management Landfill in Michigan. All treated materials were 
subjected to the Toxicity Characteristics Leaching Procedure as 
required by EPA and the Extraction Procedure Toxicity Test as required 
by the State of Michigan.
    Dredging in the Hudson River in the vicinity of the Cold Spring 
pier was completed in early July 1994 and dredging of East Foundry Cove 
continued until February 1994. All dredged areas underwent post-
remedial sampling and were surveyed to determine whether the proper 
concentration or dredging depth was achieved. With regard to East 
Foundry Cove Marsh, post-excavation cadmium levels in the sediments did 
not exceed the 100 mg/kg action level, averaging 11.75 mg/kg.
    In the Hudson River and East Foundry Cove, an average of 10 mg/kg 
of cadmium remained, which was consistent with the ROD requirement that 
at least one foot of sediment and 95% of the contamination be removed.
    The collection of ice and snow on the former battery facility's 
roof during the winter of 1993-1994 resulted in the collapse of a 
10,000 square foot section of the roof, thereby exposing a portion of 
the concrete foundation to the outside elements. This particular 
portion of the foundation contained numerous trenches which were used 
for waste disposal during the manufacture of nickel-cadmium batteries. 
Sample analyses revealed that elevated levels of cadmium and nickel 
remained encased in the rubble-filled and cemented-over trenches. Due 
to EPA's concern that continued exposure to the elements and freeze/
thaw cycles could cause the concrete floor and/or trenches' cement caps 
to heave and crack, possibly resulting in a release of contaminated 
dust, the PRPs agreed to demolish the building and remove the 
foundation and process trenches. Demolition of the former battery 
facility began in

[[Page 21425]]

September 1994 and was completed in January 1995.
    Following the demolition of the former battery facility, it was 
discovered that a cadmium nitrate tank located on a pedestal 
immediately adjacent to the plant had leaked onto the underlying soil 
prior to the closing of the plant in 1979. In an attempt to remove this 
cadmium-contaminated soil, a twenty-by sixty-foot area was excavated to 
a depth of approximately twenty feet (approximately two feet above the 
ground-water table). While post-excavation sampling of this area showed 
that some cadmium contamination remained in the saturated soils at 
levels above the 20 mg/kg action level, and low levels of cadmium were 
present in the ground water, it was determined that excavating an 
additional four feet of contaminated soil (two feet below the water 
table), placing two feet of limestone at the bottom of the excavation 
(to keep the cadmium insoluble), and backfilling the excavation with 
clean fill would be protective of public health and the environment.
    At the completion of the marsh remediation and restoration 
activities in April 1995, the marsh was planted with cattails, bull 
rush, arrow arrum, and upland shrubs in specified areas.
    The plant grounds were regraded and reseeded in July 1995. Fourteen 
monitoring wells remain in place on the plant grounds for the long-term 
monitoring of the ground water for VOCs and cadmium.
    In all, 189,265 tons of treated soils and sediments were 
transported off-site (via 1,979 railcars) to City Management Landfill 
in Michigan. Chemical Waste Management's hazardous waste landfill in 
Model City, New York received 906 tons of hazardous materials.
    A Remedial Action Report associated with the remediation of the 
adjacent properties was approved on September 28, 1993. A Remedial 
Action Report associated with the East Foundry Cove, East Foundry Cove 
Marsh, Hudson River in the vicinity of the Cold Spring pier, the former 
battery facility, and plant grounds portions of the site was approved 
on September 18, 1995. A Superfund Site Close-Out Report was approved 
on September 28, 1995.

Summary of Operation and Maintenance and Five-Year Review Requirements

    The cattails, bull rush, and arrow arrum, as well as the upland 
shrubs, are being monitored on a regular basis by the warden of the 
adjacent National Audubon sanctuary, Constitution Marsh.
    The Settling Defendants have agreed to monitor the site for up to 
thirty years, commencing with the first inspection/monitoring event 
that occurred on October 27, 1995.
    The long-term monitoring program consists of monitoring the 
groundwater, East and West Foundry Cove sediments and surface water and 
biological sampling and analysis quarterly the first year, semi-
annually during years two through five, and annually thereafter for a 
total of thirty years.
    Site inspections are to be coincident with the monitoring events. 
The inspections will include visual observations of the marsh soil 
cover and erosion controls, groundwater monitoring wells, and general 
site conditions. Maintenance, if required, will consist of correcting 
observed deficiencies (e.g., repairing ground water monitoring wells) 
The fourteen groundwater monitoring wells that comprise the groundwater 
monitoring program will be inspected to ensure their integrity. They 
will be repaired should they become damaged, or replaced should they 
become non-functional.
    So that EPA can evaluate the remedy's effectiveness, following each 
inspection/sampling event, Gould Inc. is to submit to EPA a monitoring 
and inspection program report, summarizing the inspection and sampling 
results, and describing any corrective maintenance actions that were 
taken. In addition, a review of the long-term monitoring and inspection 
program reports will be performed five years after the completion of 
the RA to assure that the remedy remains effective in protecting human 
health and the environment.
    There are no operational requirements related to the implemented 
remedy.

Summary of How the Deletion Criteria Has Been Met

    Based upon the results of RA sample analyses, survey results, and 
site inspections, the site meets the requirements set forth in the 
RODs. All contaminated soils and sediments above the specific action 
levels set for each operable unit were excavated and/or dredged from 
those areas, treated and disposed of off-site. East Foundry Cove Marsh 
and the plant grounds have been regraded with clean fill and restored. 
An Explanation of Significant Differences, dated May 1995, was issued 
by EPA to address the pedestal area on the plant grounds which exceeds 
the action level at a depth of 20 feet. However, EPA believes the 
placement of two feet of limestone at the bottom of the excavation to 
keep the cadmium insoluble, and the backfilling of the excavation with 
clean fill is protective of public health and the environment.
    EPA and the State have determined that the response actions 
undertaken at the Marathon Battery Company site are protective of human 
health and the environment.
    In accordance with 40 CFR Sec. 300.425 (e), sites may be deleted 
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. EPA, in 
consultation with the State, has determined that all appropriate 
responses under CERCLA have been implemented and that no further 
cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate. Having met the deletion 
criteria, EPA proposes to delete the Marathon Battery Company site from 
the NPL.
    The State has advised EPA that, upon deletion of the Marathon 
Battery Company site from the NPL, it proposes to change the 
classification of the site on its Registry of Inactive Hazardous Waste 
Sites from a Class 2 (a site where the disposal of a consequential 
quantity of hazardous waste has been confirmed and presents a 
significant threat to the environment or health) to a Class 4 (a site 
that has been properly closed, but requires continued operation, 
maintenance, and/or monitoring).

    Dated: April 12, 1996.
William J. Muszynski,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-11481 Filed 5-9-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P