[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 22004-22006]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11757]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5504-2]


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

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency.

Action: Notice of intent to delete the Alaskan Battery Enterprises Site 
from the National Priorities List Update: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces 
its intent to delete the Alaskan Battery Enterprises Site (Site) from 
the National Priorities List (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

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Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the State of Alaska 
Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) have determined that 
this Site poses no significant threat to public health or the 
environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to 
CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before June 
12, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Keith Rose, U. S. Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop: ECL-111, Seattle, 
Washington 98101.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region 10 public docket which is available for viewing at the Alaskan 
Battery Enterprises Site information repositories at the following 
locations:

Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation, Attn: Jeffrey 
Peterson, 610 University Avenue, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709-3643
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, Environmental Cleanup 
Office--Records Center, Attn: Lynn Williams, 1200 Sixth Avenue, 
Seattle, Washington 98101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Keith Rose, U.S. EPA, 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Mail Stop: ECL-111, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-7721.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces its 
intent to delete a site from the National Priorities List (NPL), 
Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency 
Plan (NCP), 40 CFR Part 300, and requests comments on this deletion. 
Sites listed on the NPL are those which present a significant risk to 
human health or the environment. As described in Section 300.425(e)(3) 
of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible for Fund-
financed remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the 
site warrant such actions.
    EPA plans to delete the Alaskan Battery Enterprises Site at 157 Old 
Richardson Highway, Fairbanks, Alaska 99709, from the NPL. EPA will 
accept comments on the plan 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 procedures that EPA is using for 
this action. Section IV discusses the Alaskan Battery Enterprises Site 
and explains how this site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that sites, where a release 
of hazardous substances has occurred, 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 persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed 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. 
In the case of this Site, where hazardous substances are not above 
health based levels and future access does not require restriction, 
operation and maintenance activities and five-year reviews will not be 
conducted. However, if new information becomes available which 
indicates a need for further action, EPA may initiate remedial actions. 
Whenever there is a significant release from a site deleted from the 
NPL, the site may be restored to the NPL without the application of the 
Hazard Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this Site: (1) EPA Region 10 issued a Record of Decision (ROD) which 
documented that no further action was necessary because cleanup goals 
had been achieved through removal actions prior to the ROD; (2) ADEC 
concurred with the proposed deletion decision; (3) A notice has been 
published in the local newspaper and has been distributed to 
appropriate federal, state, and local officials and other interested 
parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public comment period 
on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and, (4) All relevant documents 
have been made available for public review in the local Site 
information repositories.
    Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes to assist Agency management. As 
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) states 
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for 
future Fund-financed response actions.
    For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office 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 if any significant public comments are 
addressed.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice 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 the Regional office.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

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

A. Site Background

    The Alaskan Battery Enterprises (ABE) facility was a 0.5 acre 
battery recycling facility located at 157 Old Richardson Highway at the 
southern edge of Fairbanks, Alaska. The area surrounding the site is 
primarily mixed residential and light commercial property.

B. Site History

    The facility conducted battery recycling and manufacturing 
operations of automobile batteries from 1961 until about 1992. During 
its operation, crushed battery casings were used as fill material in 
low-lying areas of the ABE property and in the construction of the 
septic cribs along the southern property boundary. Used battery acid 
was also discharged directly to the ground on the ABE property.
    Investigations conducted by the Alaska Department of Transportation 
(ADOT) in 1986, and by the EPA technical Assistance Team in 1988, 
identified high levels of lead contamination in soil on the ABE 
property and on the adjacent right-of-way owned by ADOT. In August 
1988, EPA initiated an emergency removal action at the Site. Soils with 
lead

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concentrations in excess of 1,000 mg/kg were excavated and disposed of 
at an off-site hazardous waste disposal facility. Excavation was 
completed in the summer of 1989 with a total of 3,760 cubic yards of 
contaminated soil removed and disposed off-site. Excavated areas were 
backfilled with clean soil.
    In the summer of 1991 EPA initiated a Remedial Investigation (RI) 
for the Site. The results of the RI indicated that there were two 
locations in the surface soil and one location in the subsurface soil 
where lead concentrations still posed a potential human health risk. 
Groundwater sampling conducted during the RI found elevated lead 
concentrations in unfiltered samples, but lead was not detected in 
filtered samples, indicating that lead was bound to soil particles and 
not mobile in the groundwater.
    In the spring of 1992 the ABE site was selected for the 
demonstration of an innovative soil washing technology by EPA's 
Superfund Innovative Technology Evaluation (SITE) Program. All soil 
containing lead concentrations exceeding 1,000 mg/kg, which was a total 
of about 130 cubic yards, was excavated and treated by the soil washing 
system. Treated soil which met the cleanup goal was backfilled into the 
excavated areas, and soil which did not meet the cleanup goal was sent 
to an off-site disposal facility.
    EPA completed the RI, a Human Health Risk Assessment, and 
Feasibility Study (FS) for the Site in August, 1992. A Record of 
Decision (ROD) for the Site, which declared that no further action was 
necessary, was signed on March 2, 1993. However, the ROD specified that 
two years of groundwater monitoring would be required to verify that 
groundwater at the Site was not contaminated with lead at levels which 
would pose a human health risk. This groundwater monitoring program, 
which was completed in September 1995, determined that lead 
concentrations in the groundwater were below EPA's drinking water 
standard of 15 g/kg, and therefore the groundwater did not 
pose a human health risk.
    During the removal activities at this Site, EPA kept the community 
informed of its cleanup actions primarily through fact sheets, 
newspaper articles, and personal communications with EPA's On-Scene 
Coordinator. Following the removal action, EPA representatives met with 
local officials, congressional representatives, the facility owner, and 
members of the community on numerous occasions to identify community 
concerns to support development of a Community Relations Plan, and to 
explain EPA's process for conducting a further investigation of the 
Site. EPA representatives also met several times with the Potentially 
Responsible Parties to discuss their potential liability for cleanup 
costs at the Site. A Proposed Plan for the Site, which called for no 
further cleanup action, was issued on October 29, 1992, and subject to 
public comment for 30 days. This Proposed Plan was mailed to 
individuals on EPA's mailing list and was also announced in a local 
newspaper notice. EPA also held a public meeting on the Proposed Plan 
in Fairbanks. In general, those who commented on the Proposed Plan 
supported EPA's no further action decision. EPA responded to all 
comments received in the Responsivesness Summary, which is attached to 
the ROD.

C. Characterization of Site Risk

    Based on data collected during the RI, a risk assessment was 
conducted to identify exposure pathways and potential human health 
risks resulting from exposure to lead contamination remaining on-site 
after the removal actions conducted in 1988-89. The potential pathways 
for human health exposure to lead contamination at the Site were 
accidental ingestion of soil and ingestion of groundwater. A model was 
used to determine that a lead cleanup goal of 490 mg/kg for surface 
soil would be protective of potentially exposed children. For 
subsurface soils, EPA determined that a cleanup goal of 1,000 mg/kg, 
which was based on an industrial exposure, would be protective of 
workers who might be exposed to contaminated soil for a short duration. 
A risk assessment was not conducted for ingestion of lead in 
groundwater because a federal drinking water standard (15 ug/kg) 
already existed which was protective of human health.
    Confirmational monitoring of soil and groundwater demonstrate that 
no significant risk to public health or the environment is posed by 
residual lead contamination remaining at the Site. Long-term operation 
and maintenance activities are not required at the Site. Based on the 
actions taken at the Site prior to the ROD, EPA and ADEC believe that 
hazardous substances have been removed from the Site so as to allow for 
unlimited use and unrestricted exposure within the Site, that 
conditions at the Site are protective of public health and the 
environment, and that no further remedial action or institutional 
controls are needed at the Site. Accordingly, EPA will not conduct 
``five-year reviews'' at this Site.
    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``all appropriate Fund-financed response 
under CERCLA has been implemented, and no further action by responsible 
parties is appropriate.'' EPA, with concurrence of ADEC, believes that 
this criterion for deletion has been met. The groundwater and soil data 
confirm that the ROD goals have been met. It is concluded that there is 
no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, no further remedial action is necessary. Subsequently, EPA 
is proposing deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting 
this action are available from the docket.

    Dated: April 30, 1996.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 96-11757 Filed 5-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P