[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 136 (Monday, July 15, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 36858-36860]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-17460]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5534-1]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Pomona Oaks Well contamination 
(Pomona Oaks) and the Vineland State School (currently known as the 
Vineland Developmental Center) Superfund sites from the National 
Priorities List: request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II Office 
announces its intent to delete the Pomona Oaks and the Vineland State 
School Superfund sites from the National Priorities List (NPL) and 
requests public comment on these actions. 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 Act (CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the State of New Jersey 
have determined that no further fund-financed remedial actions are 
appropriate at these sites and actions taken to date are protective of 
public health, welfare, and the environment.

DATES: Comments concerning these sites may be submitted on or before 
August 14, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Kathleen Callahan, Director, 
Emergency and Remedial Response Division, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007.
    Comprehensive information on these sites is available through the 
EPA Region II public docket, which is located at EPA's Region II Office 
in New York City, and is available for viewing, by appointment only, 
from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. 
Requests for appointments should be directed to: Mr. Matthew Westgate, 
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
II, 290 Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 637-4422.
    Background information from the Regional public docket related to 
the Pomona Oaks site is also available for viewing at information 
repository noted below: Galloway Township Municipal Building, 300 East 
Jimmie Leeds Road, Absecon, New Jersey 08201.
    Background Information from the Regional public docket related to 
the Vineland State School is available for viewing at the repository 
noted below: Vineland City Library, 1058 East Landis Ave, Vineland, New 
Jersey 08360.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Matthew Westgate, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway, 
19th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 637-4422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II announces its 
intent to delete the Pomona Oaks site, Galloway Township, Atlantic 
County, New Jersey, and the Vineland State School site, City of 
Vineland, Cumberland County, New Jersey from the National Priorities 
List (NPL) and requests public comment on these actions. The NPL 
constitutes Appendix B to 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. 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. Sites on 
the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions financed by the 
Hazardous Substances Superfund Response Trust Fund (Fund). Pursuant to 
section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from the NPL remains 
eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions if conditions at the site 
warrant such action.
    The EPA will accept comments concerning the Pomona Oaks and the 
Vineland State School sites 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 
these actions. Section IV discusses how the sites meet the deletion 
criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria 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 will consider whether any of the 
following criteria have been met:
    (i) EPA, in consultation with the State, has determined that 
responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate response 
actions required; or
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented and EPA, in consultation with the State, has determined 
that no further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate; or
    (iii) Based on a remedial investigation, EPA, in consultation with 
the State, has determined that the release poses no significant threat 
to public health or the environment and, therefore, taking of 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

[[Page 36859]]

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.
    EPA Region II will accept and evaluate public comments before 
making a final decision to delete. The Agency believes that deletion 
procedures should focus on notice and comment at the local level. 
Comments from the local community may be the most pertinent to deletion 
decisions. The following procedures were used for the intended deletion 
of the Pomona Oaks and the Vineland State School sites:
    1. EPA Region II has recommended deletion and has prepared the 
relevant documents.
    2. The State of New Jersey has concurred with the deletion 
decisions.
    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-day public comment period on 
the deletion package, which starts July 15, 1996, and will conclude on 
August 14, 1996.
    4. The Region has made all relevant documents available in the 
Regional Office and local site information repositories.
    The comments received during the notice and comment period will be 
evaluated before any final decision is made. EPA Region II will prepare 
a Responsiveness Summary, which will address the comments received 
during the public comment period.
    The deletion will occur after the EPA Regional Administrator places 
a notice in the Federal Register. The NPL will reflect any deletions in 
the next final update. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness 
Summary will be made available to local residents by the Region II 
Office.

IV. (A). Basis for Intended Deletion of the Pomona Oaks Site

    The Pomona Oaks Site includes a residential subdivision and an 
adjacent shopping center in the Pomona area of Galloway Township, 
Atlantic County, New Jersey. The residential subdivision contains about 
200 single family homes built in the 1970s and has a population of 
approximately 800 to 1000 people. It is surrounded by undeveloped 
wooded areas, scattered residences and small ``strip'' type shopping 
areas. Some of the outlying areas are farms. Southwest of the 
subdivision is a combination gas station-convenience store and a 
``strip'' mall containing a dry cleaner. Another gas station and a 
salvage yard are located to the west and northwest. The Pomona Oaks 
subdivision has both municipal water and sewers.
    Construction of homes in the Pomona Oaks subdivision began in 1972. 
Initially, homes within the subdivision relied upon private wells as 
the source of potable water and upon individual septic systems for 
wastewater disposal. By 1982, all of the homes in the subdivision were 
connected to the public sewer system.
    In June 1982, residents complained to the Atlantic County Health 
Department (ACHD) of foul tasting well water. Extensive testing of 
residential wells revealed high levels of organics including benzene 
and 1,2-dichloroethane. As a result the ACHD advised residents not to 
use their well water for drinking or cooking.
    Over the next few years additional testing of individual wells was 
performed by the New Jersey Department of Health (NJDOH) and the EPA. 
The results of these sampling events in the Pomona Oaks subdivision 
indicated widespread contamination of the drinking water aquifer with 
organic compounds. As a result in August 1985, all 193 homes within the 
subdivision were connected to the Absecon water supply.
    The Pomona Oaks site was formally added to the National Priorities 
List on June 1, 1986. In December 1986, EPA initiated a Remedial 
Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS). The remedial investigation 
was designed to determine the nature, extent and source of the ground 
water and soil contamination at the site, which includes the Pomona 
Oaks subdivision, Pomona Plaza Shopping Center, and those residents 
downgradient of the subdivision. The RI fieldwork, conducted from 
October 1988 to March 1989, included a soil gas survey, subsurface soil 
sampling, sediment sampling, monitoring well and piezometer 
installation, one round of sampling from the monitoring wells, 
residential well sampling (outside the subdivision), aquifer slug 
testing, and gamma logging of wells.
    The sources of contamination were not identified during the RI. 
There was not enough contamination present in the soil or the ground 
water to give an indication of its origin. Potential sources include 
two nearby gas stations, a local automobile salvage yard, and the now 
closed septic systems of the Pomona Plaza Shopping Center and the 
residences in the subdivision.
    Data obtained during the extensive RI has shown that the ground 
water contamination in the Pomona Oaks subdivision no longer exists 
above health risk or drinking water standard levels. On September 26, 
1990, the EPA Regional Administrator, with the concurrence of the 
NJDEP, signed a Record of Decision for the Pomona Oaks site. The 
selected remedy was to take no remedial action.
    This decision was based on the following facts:

--The immediate threat to the residents of the Pomona Oaks subdivision 
was removed by the installation of the alternate water supply in 1985;
--The RI indicated that the high concentrations of chemicals that were 
present during the 1982 to 1985 period had significantly decreased to 
below drinking water standards suggesting dispersion and/or 
biodegradation of contaminants over time; and
--The contamination was not present in the Pomona Oaks subdivision and, 
therefore, did not come from a continuous source, but most likely 
discrete events, such as spills.

(B). Basis for Intended Deletion of the Vineland State School Site

    The Vineland State School, currently known as the Vineland 
Developmental Center (VDC), is located to the northeast of the 
intersection of Main Road (State Highway 555) and Landis Avenue (State 
Highway 56) in the City of Vineland, New Jersey. The Vineland 
Developmental Center is a residential treatment facility for mentally 
handicapped women operated by the New Jersey Department of Human 
Services. It has been in existence since the late 1800's. The 195 acre 
site is comprised of numerous buildings to house, feed, educate and 
care for the needs of approximately 1300 residents. Also on the grounds 
are administration and maintenance facilities, as well as large open 
fields for recreational purposes. The surrounding area is primarily 
residential, on land that was formerly orchards and agricultural 
fields.
    As a result of allegations of improper disposal of hazardous 
materials made by VDC employees, investigations were conducted 
beginning in March 1980 on behalf of the New Jersey Department of 
Health Services (NJDHS). These investigations were carried out by the 
NJDEP, the City of Vineland and the EPA. The VDC site was added to the 
National Priorities List in September 1983. Based on the allegations by 
VDC employees that five separate areas of the VDC property were 
potential hazardous waste disposal areas, five distinct subsites were 
investigated within the facility.

[[Page 36860]]

    A significant amount of investigation work prior to and during the 
RI performed at the VDC site. The investigative activities were 
performed in order to determine the nature and extent of contamination 
at the suspected subsites. The major investigative activities included 
potable well sampling, installation and sampling of monitoring wells, 
performing a conductivity survey, conducting exploratory excavations 
and collecting subsurface soil samples.
    The results of these investigations failed to detect any 
significant contamination in four of the five subsites. Only subsite 2 
was found to be contaminated to any meaningful degree. This area was 
remediated by the NJDEP in October 1988. The cleanup included the 
removal of nearly 4,000 tons of soils contaminated with polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs). Also, a public water supply was extended to service 
homes in the vicinity of the site.
    In summary, although there were allegations of illegal dumping, 
investigations of the four other areas failed to detect any significant 
contamination. In fact, the risks associated with the low levels of 
contamination in these areas are within the acceptable range as 
determined by EPA and NJDEP.
    In view of the above, the selected remedy in the September 30, 1989 
Record of Decision (ROD) was to take no further remedial action. 
However, because sporadic low levels of subsurface soil contamination 
exist at the site, a program to monitor groundwater and the existing 
disposal areas has been implemented. A review will be performed within 
five years to ensure that the selected remedial action provides 
adequate protection of human health and the environment.
    Having met the deletion criteria, EPA proposes to delete this site 
from the NPL. EPA and the State have determined that the response 
actions are protective of human health and the environment.

    Dated: May 14, 1996.
William J. Muszynski,
Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA Region II.
[FR Doc. 96-17460 Filed 7-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P