[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 163 (Wednesday, August 21, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43203-43205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-21178]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5557-1]
National Oil and Hazardous Substance Contingency Pollution Plan;
National Priorities List Update
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Gold Coast oil site from the
National Priorities List (NPL); Request for comments.
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SUMMARY: EPA, Region IV, announces its intent to delete the Gold Coast
Oil Site (Site) in Miami, Dade County, Florida, from the NPL and
requests public comment on this action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B,
40 CFR part 300; the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution
Contingency Plan (NCP) promulgated by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980
(CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the State of Florida (State) have
determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have
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been implemented by the Potentially Responsible Parties and that no
further response actions are needed. Moreover, EPA and the State have
determined that the remedial actions conducted at the Site to date have
been protective of public health, welfare, and the environment.
DATES: Comments on the proposed deletion from the NPL should be
submitted no later than September 20, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Brad Jackson, Remedial Project
Manager, South Superfund Remedial Branch, Waste Management Division,
EPA, Region IV, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, GA 30365.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the
EPA, Region IV, public docket located at the regional office. The
deletion docket is available for viewing, by appointment, from 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Requests
for appointments or copies of the background information from the EPA
regional office should be directed to Debbie Jourdan, EPA, Region IV,
docket office at 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia, 30365.
Ms. Jourdan may also be contacted by telephone at (404) 347-5059,
extension 6217.
Background information from the regional public docket is also
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at
Florida International University, University Park Campus Library, Rm.
AT-235, Miami, Florida, 33199. Appointments can be scheduled to review
the documents locally by contacting the library at (305) 348-2463.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Brad Jackson, Remedial Project
Manager, EPA, Region IV, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia,
30365, (404) 347-2643.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
EPA, Region IV, announces its intent to delete the Gold Coast Oil
Site from the NPL (Appendix B of the NCP), and request comments on this
proposed deletion. EPA identifies sites that pose a significant threat
to public health, welfare, or the environment and maintains an
inventory of these sites through the NPL. Sites on the NPL may be the
subject of remedial actions financed by the Hazardous Substances
Superfund Response Trust Fund (Fund). Pursuant to Sec. 300.66(c)(8) of
the NCP, any site deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-
financed remedial actions if new or changing conditions warrant such
actions.
EPA will accept comments concerning the proposed deletion of this
site from the NPL until September 20, 1996.
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), releases may
be deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In
making this determination, EPA will consider, in consultation with the
State of Florida, whether any of the following criteria are met:
Responsible or other parties have implemented all
appropriate response actions required; or
All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have
been implemented and no further cleanup by responsible parties is
appropriate, or
The remedial investigation has shown that the release
poses no significant threat to public health, welfare, or the
environment and, therefore, undertaking of additional remedial measures
is not appropriate.
III. Deletion Procedures
EPA, Region IV, will accept and evaluate public comments before
making a final decision to delete this Site from the NPL. Comments from
the local community may be the most pertinent to the deletion decision.
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of this
Site:
EPA, Region IV, has recommended deletion and has prepared
the relevant documents.
The State has concurred with the deletion decision.
Concurrent with this National Notice of Intent to Delete,
a local notice has been published in local newspapers and has been
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and
other interested parties.
The Region has made all relevant documents available in
the Regional Office and local site information repository.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter, or
revoke and individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed
primarily for information purposes and to assist Agency management. As
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, 40 CFR Section 300.425(e)(3)
provides that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude
eligibility for future Fund-financed response actions.
The comments received during the notice and comment period will be
evaluated before the final decision to delete. The Region will prepare
a Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address any comments
received during the public comment period.
A deletion occurs when the EPA Regional Administrator publishes 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 Region IV.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The Gold Coast Oil Site is the former location of an oil
reclamation facility that operated over an 11-year period. The Site is
approximately two acres in size and is located in a mixed commercial,
industrial, and residential area of Miami, Florida. Poor housekeeping
practices and improper disposal of wastes resulted in extensive
contamination of surface and subsurface soils at levels that posed a
threat to human health, welfare and/or the environment. The underlying
Biscayne aquifer, a sole source of drinking water for Dade County, was
also extensively contaminated at levels in excess of Federal and State
Drinking Water Standards. Concern for the potential threat to the
public and impact on the local drinking water supply prompted the
inclusion of the Site on the National Priorities List (NPL) in
September 1983.
Numerous studies were undertaken by EPA and the potentially
responsible parties which documented the nature and extent of
contamination. The scope and results of these studies was summarized in
detail in the Interim Site Close Out Report and in other documents
contained in the Site file. Community involvement and the scope of
community relation activities were also documented in the Interim Site
Close Out Report.
Soil remediation began in March 1989, with the excavation and
offsite disposal of 683 tons of contaminated soils and hardened waste
sludge. An additional 200 cubic yards of contaminated soil was
excavated and removed for offsite disposal in March 1990. As discussed
in the Interim Site Close Out Report, sampling and analysis of soil
samples verified compliance with the ROD cleanup criteria.
A comprehensive system of groundwater monitoring, recovery, and
disposal was implemented in July 1990. Contaminated groundwater was
recovered through a series of wells and treated onsite with a dual
column air stripping system for the removal of volatile organic
compounds. The treated
[[Page 43205]]
groundwater was returned to the aquifer through onsite injection wells,
upgradient of the recovery system.
Contaminant levels were reduced dramatically within the first year
of operation of the system. Several modifications were eventually made
to the groundwater recovery system to enhance its effectiveness. A
summary of analytical results that document the performance of the
remedial system is provided in the Site Close Out Report, February
1996.
EPA, in consultation with the State, concluded that the groundwater
recovery system had achieved its goal in significantly reducing
contaminant levels within the aquifer, and that continued operation of
the recovery system would not provide any further reduction in
contaminant levels. The system was deactivated and placed in a
monitoring mode on March 15, 1994.
The groundwater recovery and treatment system recovered and treated
over 80 million gallons of water. Operation of the system reduced
contaminant levels by approximately 99 percent and essentially
eliminated the dissolved plume.
Monitoring of the Site during the period May through November 1994,
indicated continued compliance with the groundwater performance
criteria, with the exception of periodic exceedances of TCE and PCE in
the two shallow wells located near the center of the former plume.
These periodic exceedances represented very small, isolated, areas of
contamination. It was theorized that these exceedances may be the
result of residual VOC contamination in soil overlying the groundwater.
However, soil gas analysis conducted in proximity to monitoring wells
MW-11 and MW-13, in November 1994, did not indicate the presence of any
residual contamination in the unsaturated zone.
In a final effort to attain permanent compliance with the
performance criteria at monitoring wells MW-11 and MW-13, the soil
surrounding the wells was excavated below the water table. The
excavations were approximately 15-feet square by 15-feet deep. Although
a composite soil sample from each excavated stockpile did not indicate
the present of any TCE or PCE, initial sampling of the groundwater in
the pits indicated elevated levels of TCE and PCE. The pits remained
open for several months and the water was treated using a portable
compressor and air spargers. A summary of the analytical results of the
sampling of groundwater from the pits was provided in the Close Out
Report, February 1996.
As documented in the Close Out Report, TCE and PCE concentrations
decreased with time and stabilized at levels within the performance
criteria specified in the ROD. At that time, the groundwater
remediation was determined to be complete, and the pits backfilled with
clean fill.
Cleanup of the Gold Coast Oil site is complete. Approval of this
Close Out Report will serve as certification of completion of all
remedial activities at the Gold Coast Oil Site. Based on the success of
the remedial action, only one year of post-certification monitoring
will be performed. Should the data indicate no significant increase in
the contaminant levels relative to the findings of the ``clean
closure'' monitoring, the post-certification monitoring may cease.
However, should the post-certification monitoring show significant
increases in the contaminant levels relative to the ``clean closure''
monitoring, EPA may extend the length of the post-certification
monitoring. The commitment by the PRPs to perform post-certification
monitoring is provided for in the Consent Decree and the plans for
monitoring described in a letter from the PRPs consultant to the EPA
Remedial Project Manager dated April 17, 1992. Performance of the Post-
Certification monitoring, however, does not preclude the deletion of
this Site from the NPL.
Removal of all hazardous substances from the Site resulted in
unlimited use and unrestricted exposure at the Site. As a result, no
institutional controls were necessary at the Site. Since, the long-term
groundwater response action was not certified as complete within the
time period for the first Five-Year Review, a review was conducted and
concluded that the remedy had been effective in attaining the remedial
goals and that no further remedial response was necessary.
EPA, in consultation with the State, has determined that all
necessary response actions, including final attainment of the
groundwater cleanup criteria, have been met as specified in OSWER
Directive 9320.2-3A. Specifically, confirmatory sampling has verified
that the ROD cleanup objectives for the soil and groundwater have been
achieved and the Site is protective of public health, welfare and the
environment. These documents are available for review by calling the
Regional Office at (404) 347-2643.
Dated: July 22, 1996.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA, Region IV.
[FR Doc. 96-21178 Filed 8-20-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P