[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]
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