[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 208 (Friday, October 25, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 55260-55261]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-27048]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5638-4]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Spence Farm Superfund Site from
the National Priorities List; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region II,
announces its intent to delete the Spence Farm Superfund Site (Site)
from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on
this action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 which is
the National Oil & Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan
(NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the New Jersey Department of
Environmental Protection (NJDEP) have determined that all appropriate
response/remedial actions have been completed and no further remedial
action by the responsible party is appropriate under CERCLA. In
addition, EPA and NJDEP have determined that remedial activities
conducted to date at the Site have been protective of public health,
welfare, and the environment.
DATES: Comments concerning the deletion of the Site from the NPL may be
submitted on or before November 25, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted to: Joseph Gowers, Remedial
Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290
Broadway, 19th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
Comprehensive information on the Site is contained in the NJDEP
public docket and is available for viewing, by appointment only, at:
NJDEP-Bureau of Community Relations, 401 East State Street, CN 413,
Trenton, NJ 08625, phone: (609) 984-3081, 8:30 AM to 4:30 PM--Monday
through Friday (excluding holidays), contact: Heather Swartz.
Information on the Site is also available for viewing at the Site
Administrative Record Repository located at: New Egypt Library, 10
Evergreen Road, New Egypt, NJ 08533, contact: Barbara Rothlein, phone:
(609) 758-7888. Hours: Monday (10 am to 5 pm and 7 to 9 pm), Tuesday
(10 am to 5 pm), Wednesday (1 to 5 pm), Thursday (1 to 5 pm and 7 to 9
pm), Friday (10 am to 5 pm) and Saturday (10 am to 1 pm).
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Jospeh Gowers, 212-637-4413.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
I. Introduction
EPA Region II announces its intent to delete the Site from the NPL
and requests public comment on this deletion. The NPL is Appendix B to
the NCP, which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of CERCLA, as
amended. 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 (the Fund). Pursuant to Sec. 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 the deletion of the Site from
the NPL for 30 days after publication of this notice in the Federal
Register until November 25, 1996.
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 the Site meets the NPL 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)(1) (i)-(iii),
sites may be deleted from the NPL where no further response is
appropriate. In making this determination, EPA, in consultation with
NJDEP, will consider whether any of the following criteria has been
met:
(i) Responsible or other persons have implemented all appropriate
response actions required; or
(ii) All appropriate Fund-financed response under CERCLA has been
implemented, and no further response action by responsible parties is
appropriate; or
(iii) The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses
no significant threat to public health or to the environment and,
therefore, taking 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 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 information
purposes and to assist Agency management.
EPA Region II will accept and evaluate public comments before
making a final decision to delete the site. The Agency believes that
deletion procedures should focus on notice and comment at the local
level. Comments from the local community may be most pertinent to
deletion decisions. The following procedures were used for the intended
deletion of the Site:
1. NJDEP, as the lead agency, has recommended deletion.
2. EPA Region II concurred with the deletion decision and has
prepared the relevant documents.
3. Concurrent with the Notice of Intent to Delete, a notice has
been published in a local newspaper and has been distributed to
appropriate Federal, State and local officials, and other interested
parties.
The comments received during the comment period will be evaluated
before any final decision is made. EPA Region II will prepare a
Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address the comments
received during the public comment period.
If after consideration of these comments, EPA decides to proceed
with the deletion, the EPA Regional Administrator will place a Notice
of Deletion in the Federal Register. The NPL will reflect any deletions
in the next final update. Public notices and copies of the
Responsiveness Summary, if any, will be made available to local
residents by EPA Region II.
[[Page 55261]]
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for
recommending deletion of the Spence Farm Superfund Site, Ocean County,
New Jersey, from the NPL.
The Site is an 83 acre site located in Plumsted Township, Ocean
County, New Jersey. Approximately 20 acres of the Site is reported to
have been used from 1961 to 1967 for disposal of drummed and bulk
wastes. The majority of the disposal occurred in random areas along
stream valleys and wooded areas within the property.
The NJDEP conducted an initial inspection of the Site in 1980. As a
result of initial investigations, EPA proposed that the Site be added
to the NPL in October 1981.
A Remedial Investigation (RI) was performed from December 1983
through May 1984. The RI identified several disposal areas. The
disposal areas contained discarded polymers, laboratory glassware, lab
packs, drums and stained soils. Soil samples collected as part of the
RI yielded various organic compounds and metals.
A Record of Decision (ROD), which selected a remedy for the Site,
was signed in September 1984. The selected remedy called for the off-
site disposal of waste material, drums, lab packs and contaminated
soil, and ground water monitoring for a five year period. In April
1985, Morton International Incorporated entered into an enforcement
agreement with NJDEP for performance of the selected remedy.
Morton began implementation of the selected remedy in September
1985. The initial phases of the remedial program included the
collection of soil samples and digging of test pits in the disposal
areas to further define the extent of the disposal areas. Subsequent to
the off-site disposal of the waste and contaminated soil, Morton
conducted soil sampling to determine whether the NJDEP-established 1
milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) cleanup criterion for polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs) had been achieved. PCBs were detected in soil at
levels exceeding the 1 mg/kg criterion, prompting further remedial
action.
Removal of PCB-contaminated ``hot spots'' was conducted in August
and September 1989 and November 1990. Removal of remaining PCB-
contaminated soil was completed during the final phase of the remedial
action, which was performed in 1994. The cleanup of PCB-contaminated
soil was confirmed through the collection and analysis of post-
excavation soil samples. Furthermore, ground water monitoring which was
conducted annually from 1989 through 1994 did not detect Site-related
contaminants above criteria established for the protection of ground
water.
NJDEP and EPA have determined that the remedy implemented at the
Site is protective of human health and the environment and that no
further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate. Hazardous
substances on Site were cleaned up to levels that would allow for
unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, therefore the five-year review
requirement of section 121(c) of CERCLA, as amended, is not applicable.
Dated: September 16, 1996.
William J. Musynski,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 96-27048 Filed 10-24-96; 8:45 am]
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