[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