[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 150 (Friday, August 2, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40371-40373]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-19432]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5545-6]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete Northwest 58th Landfill Site from 
the National Priorities List: request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IV announces 
its intent to delete the Northwest 58th Street Landfill 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 Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the State of 
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have determined 
that the Site poses no significant threat to public health or the 
environment and therefore, further response measures pursuant to CERCLA 
are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before: 
September 3, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Richard D. Green, Acting 
Director, Waste Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, 345 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30365.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region IV public docket, which is available for viewing at the 
Northwest 58th Street information repositories at two locations. 
Locations, contacts, phone numbers and viewing hours are:

U.S. EPA Record Center, 345 Courtland Street, NE, Atlanta, Georgia 
30365, Phone: (404)347-0506, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday 
through Friday By Appointment Only
Metropolitan Dade County, Department of Environmental Resource 
Management, Hazardous Waste Section, 33 S.W. 2nd Avenue, Suite 800, 
Miami, Florida 33130, Phone: (305) 372-6804, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 
p.m., Monday through Friday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Pamela Scully, U.S. EPA Region IV, 
Mail Code: WD-SSRB, 345 Courtland Street NE, Atlanta, Georgia 30365, 
(404)347-2643 x6246.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

    Table of Contents:

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

I. Introduction

    The EPA Region IV announces its intent to delete the Northwest 58th 
Street Site, Dade County, Florida, from the NPL, which constitutes 
Appendix B of the NCP, 40 CFR Part 300, and requests comments on this 
deletion. EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear to present a 
significant risk to public health, welfare, or the environment. Sites 
on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions financed by the 
Hazardous Substance Superfund 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.
    EPA will accept comments concerning this Site for thirty days after 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.

[[Page 40372]]

    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 how this 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 300.425(e), sites may be 
deleted from or recategorized on the NPL where no further response is 
appropriate. In making this determination, EPA shall consider, in 
consultation with the state, whether any of the following criteria have 
been met:
    (i) Responsible or other parties 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.
    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. 
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 Hazardous Ranking 
System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    EPA will accept and evaluate public comments before making a final 
decision on deletion. The following procedures were used for the 
intended deletion of the Site:
    1. FDEP has concurred with the deletion decision;
    2. Concurrently with this Notice of Intent, a notice has been 
published in local newspapers and has been distributed to appropriate 
federal, state and local officials and other interested parties 
announcing a 30-day public comment period on the proposed deletion from 
the NPL; and
    3. The Region has made all relevant documents available at the 
information repositories.
    The Region will respond to significant comments, if any, submitted 
during the comment period.
    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.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect any 
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary, if any, 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.
    The Northwest 58th Street Landfill is a one square mile site in 
Northwest Dade County, Florida, near the western perimeters of the Town 
of Medley and the City of Miami Springs. The Site began operation as an 
open dump in 1952. Shallow trenches were dug for waste disposal, 
resulting in deposition of refuse in the saturated zone of the Biscayne 
Aquifer. The landfill received an estimated one million tons of waste 
each year during its latter years of operation. In January 1975, a 
program of providing daily cover was instituted. Initially, this cover 
consisted of muck and crushed rock, but subsequently, calcium carbonate 
sludge from the County's water treatment plants was used as cover.
    In 1975, the U.S. Geologic Survey completed a study, which defined 
a migrating groundwater contaminant plume, downgradient of the Site. 
The study estimated the location of the leading edge of the plume to be 
one mile east (downgradient) of the landfill. A feasibility study (FS) 
was completed in January 1976. Six alternatives were considered for 
remediating ground water contamination at the Site, including: site 
groundwater recovery, onsite groundwater recovery with deep well 
injection, containment of contaminants, excavation of the landfill and 
leachate control measures.
    In June 1979, Dade County and the Florida Department of 
Environmental Protection entered into a Consent Order which required 
the county to cease accepting waste at the Northwest 58th Street 
Landfill by August 1, 1981. Dade County continued to operate the 
landfill until October 1982. Since then, the landfill has received only 
construction debris, quarry wastes, and water plant sludges; no 
municipal waste has been received. In October 1981, the landfill was 
proposed for the National Priorities List (NPL). The site was placed on 
the NPL in September 1983.
    In 1982 EPA initiated the Biscayne Aquifer Study to determine the 
effect of three NPL sites on the Biscayne aquifer: The Varsol Spill 
Site; the Miami Drum Site; and the Northwest 58th Street Landfill. The 
regional study was not able to define a groundwater plume associated 
with the site. Rather, a widespread low-to-moderate plume was found 
throughout most of the study area. A 1986 Endangerment Assessment 
identified the following as site-related groundwater contaminants of 
concern: arsenic, chromium, zinc, benzene, chlorobenzene, 1,1,2,2-
tetrachloroethane, trichloroethene and vinyl chloride. These 
contaminants were found in exceedence of existing federal or State of 
Florida maximum contaminant levels, and were found to be of concern due 
to their relative mobility, persistence and toxicity.
    Based on the USGS study, the 1976 FS, and the Biscayne aquifer 
study, EPA approved a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Northwest 58th 
Street Landfill on September 21, 1987. The remedy selected by the ROD 
was closure of the landfill. The closure was to include leachate 
control through a combination of stormwater management, grading, 
drainage control, leachate collection, and capping techniques. These 
measures were expected to minimize the infiltration of rainwater into 
the landfill, thus controlling the production of leachate. Methane gas 
migration and odor controls were also to be implemented. Long-term 
monitoring of ground water quality and O&M of the landfill closure was 
also required.
    In addition to closure of the landfill, the remedy required that 
the county provide public drinking water to those residences and 
businesses located east of the landfill, where it had been determined 
exposure to ground water contaminated by the landfill caused 
unacceptable risk.
    On April 26, 1988, Dade County signed a Consent Decree with EPA, to 
implement the remedial actions identified in the ROD. The closure plan 
was submitted to EPA June 27, 1988. Municipal water was provided to 
private well users east of the landfill in January 1989. A leachate 
interceptor trench was installed along the eastern perimeter of the 
landfill, in an area designated as Zone 1, by April 1989. Construction 
of the landfill cover system began in August 1991, and construction 
completion was completed January 1995.

[[Page 40373]]

    A statutory five-year review of the remedy was conducted in 1993. 
Because the remedial action was not complete, EPA recommended that 
another five-year review be conducted by November 22, 1998.
    EPA, with concurrence of FDEP, has determined that all appropriate 
actions at the Northwest 58th Street Landfill Site have been completed, 
and that no further remedial action is necessary. Therefore, EPA is 
proposing deletion of the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: July 18, 1996.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA Region IV.
[FR Doc. 96-19432 Filed 8-1-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P