[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 107 (Wednesday, June 4, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 30554-30558]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-14579]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5830-9]

National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan


National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site from 
the National Priorities List and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 announces 
its intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site (Site) from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this 
proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
(CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR Part 300 
which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan (NCP). EPA and the State of Louisiana, through the 
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), have determined 
that the Site poses no significant threat to public health, welfare, or 
the environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to 
CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: The EPA will accept comments concerning its proposal to delete 
this Site from the NPL until July 7, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Mr. Verne McFarland, Community 
Relations Coordinator (6SF-P), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-6617.
    Information Repositories: Comprehensive information on the Site is 
available through the public docket which is available for viewing at 
the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site information repositories at the 
following locations:

U.S. EPA Region 6 Library (12th Floor), 445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 
75202-2733, (214) 665-6424 / 665-6427.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, 290 Bluebonnet Road, 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809, (504) 765-0487.
Police Jury of Iberville Parish, 10 Meriam, Plaquemine, LA 70765, (504) 
687-5190.
Iberville Parish Library, 501 J. Gerald Berret Blvd., Plaquemine, LA 
70765, (504) 687-2520.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Stephen L. Tzhone, Remedial 
Project Manager (6SF-LP), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-8409.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

Appendices

A. Site Map
B. Deletion Docket Information

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 announces its 
intent to delete the Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site (Site) from the 
National Priorities List (NPL), Appendix B of the National Oil and 
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), Code of Federal 
Regulations, Title 40 (40 CFR), Part 300, and request comments on the 
proposed deletion. 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. As described in section 
300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible 
for remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site 
warrant such action.
    The EPA will accept comments concerning its intent to delete for 
thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the Federal 
Register and a newspaper of record.
    Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting 
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is using 
for this action. Section IV discusses the Bayou Sorrel. Superfund Site 
and how the Site meets the deletion criteria.

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II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that releases may be deleted 
from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further response is 
appropriate. In making a determination to delete a release from the 
NPL, EPA shall consider, in consultation with the State, whether any of 
the following criteria have been met:
    i. Responsible parties or other parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    ii. All appropriate response under CERCLA has 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
    Even 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 application of the Hazard Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the 
Site:
    (1) EPA Region 6 has recommended deletion and has prepared the 
relevant documents;
    (2) The State of Louisiana concurred by letter dated January 30, 
1997, with the deletion decision;
    (3) A notice has been published in the local newspaper and has been 
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and 
other interested parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public 
comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and
    (4) All relevent documents have been made available for public 
review in the local Site information repositories.
    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. 
As mentioned in Section II of this document, section 300.425(e)(3) of 
the NCP states that the deletion of a site from the NPL does not 
preclude eligibility for future response actions.
    For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and 
evaluate public comments on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before 
making a final decision to delete. If necessary, the Agency will 
prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address any significant public 
comments received.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect 
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local 
residents by the Regional office.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following information provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL:

A. Site Location

    The Site is located in section 40, 41, 42, 43 and in Township 10 
South, Range 10 East, in Iberville Parish, Louisiana, approximately 20 
miles southwest of Baton Rouge and six miles northwest of the town of 
Bayou Sorrel. The Site is ``T'' shaped and encompasses 265 acres of 
land. The west border of the Site is bound by a man-made drainage 
feature called ``Borrow River'' and approximately 100 yards west of 
Borrow River is the Atchafalaya Basin Protection Levee. The northern 
side of the Site is bound by the Upper Grand River and the eastern side 
is bound by the Pat Bayou. Undeveloped swamp land is adjacent to the 
Site on the south.
    Access to the Site from the north is along the unpaved levee road 
14 miles south of its intersection with Interstate 10 at Ramah, 
Louisiana. The same unpaved levee road provides access to the south of 
the Site from its origin six miles north of the town of Bayou Sorrel. 
The Upper Grand River also provides barge access to the Site.

B. Site History

    Bayou Sorrel Superfund Site is a remediated and inactive site 
currently under an Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Plan agreed upon by 
the EPA and the potentially responsible parties. One million cubic feet 
of contaminated soil and sediments are entombed beneath two multi-
layered, protective caps with 30 feet deep concrete barriers to halt 
any residual migration of pollution into groundwater and adjacent 
wetlands. The O&M Plan calls for 30 years of Site maintenance and 
monitoring to ensure the effectiveness of the cleanup activities.
    The Site is known locally as the ``Grand River Pits,'' and was a 
petrochemical waste dump/landfill operated by the Environmental 
Purification Advancement Corporation (EPAC) from 1977 to 1978. Wastes 
were received by EPAC and dumped on approximately 50 acres of the total 
Site acreage. Disposed wastes included process wastes from pesticide 
and herbicide manufacturing, sulfide containing wastes from 
petrochemical manufacturing and petroleum exploration and production, 
and spent wash solutions from boiler cleaning. Incompatible chemicals 
were mixed haphazardly in four landfills, one drum burial area, four 
open ponds, and one landfarm.
    In 1978, a truck driver died at the site when liquid waste dumped 
from his truck reacted with the disposed wastes to create lethal 
hydrogen sulfide gas. The 18th Judicial District Court ordered the Site 
closed and EPAC conducted closure activities from 1978 to 1979. Wastes 
were de-watered and transferred from three ponds to a fourth pond where 
solids were concentrated by evaporation and landfarming. The wastes 
were then combined with native soils and the ponds filled in and 
contoured.
    After site closure, complaints about odors and surface water 
contamination in the swamps south of the Site were received by the 
State. To protest the continuing pollution from flooding and to stop 
trucks from dumping more waste into the ``Grand River Pits,'' area 
residents burned a bridge leading to the Site.
    Based on the information obtained from the State, the Site was 
proposed to EPA's NPL on December 20, 1982, and finalized on September 
8, 1983. This listing action provided the mechanism for EPA to use 
federal monies for cleanup actions at the Site. Consequently, the EPA 
conducted a Remedial Investigation to determine the nature and extent 
of wastes at the Site and a Feasibility Study to evaluate various 
cleanup alternatives. Following a public comment period, EPA signed the 
Record of Decision (ROD) for the Site in 1986. The cleanup remedy 
selected in the ROD was completed in 1990 and included the following 
remedial activities:
     Regrading the site to limit runoff of contaminants, 
control erosion, and divert storm water from the waste ponds;
     Covering two former disposal areas with topsoil/
geomembrane/clay caps and installing a venting system to reduce the 
buildup of methane gas beneath the cap and a pore water

[[Page 30556]]

drainage system above the wastes and below the caps;
     Installing underground concrete barriers or ``slurry 
walls'' around the waste ponds to stop contaminant migration into 
ground water;
     Enclosing capped areas with security fences and building 
access roads to allow continued use of adjacent recreational land; and
     Installing a ground water monitoring system to monitor the 
effectiveness of the remedy.

C. Characterization of Risk

    Continued monitoring of groundwater demonstrate that no significant 
risk to public health or the environment is posed by the hazardous 
materials remaining at the Site. Based on the successful remedial 
actions addressing the hazardous materials onsite, the monitoring 
results of O&M activities to date, and the public health consultation 
by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), EPA 
verifies the implemented Site remedy is protective of human health and 
the environment.

D. Community Involvement

    Public participation activities have been satisfied as required in 
CERCLA section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and section 117, 42 U.S.C. 
9617. Documents in the deletion docket which EPA relied on for 
recommendation of the Site deletion from the NPL have been available to 
the public in the four information repositories.

E. Proposed Action

    EPA, with concurrence of the State of Louisiana, has determined 
that all appropriate responses under CERCLA at the Bayou Sorrel 
Superfund Site have been completed, and that no further response 
actions, other than O&M and Five-Year reviews, are necessary. 
Therefore, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site from the NPL.

    Dated: May 21, 1997.
Myron O. Knudson,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA Region 6.
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Appendix B--Bayou Sorrel Deletion Docket

     Remedial Investigation Report, Vol. I and II, CH2M 
Hill, November 27, 1985.
     Feasibility Study Report, CH2M Hill and SRW Associates, 
January 31, 1986.
     Endangerment Assessment, Life Systems, Inc., February 
21, 1986.
     EPA Record of Decision, USEPA Region 6, November 14, 
1986.
     Remedial Concept Design, ERM-Southwest, Inc., March 18, 
1987
     Ground Water Statistics Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc., 
April 28, 1987.
     Operation and Maintenance Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc., 
December 14, 1988.
     Health Assessment, ATSDR, April 6, 1989.
     Quality Assurance Project Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc., 
April 24, 1989.
     Sampling and Analysis Plan, ERM-Southwest, Inc., 
October 26, 1990.
     Remedial Action Report, ERM-Southwest, Inc., October 
30, 1990.
     EPA Final Closeout Report, USEPA Region 6, May 26, 
1992.
     EPA Five-Year Review, USEPA Region 6, September 30, 
1993.
     Health Consultation, ATSDR, May 8, 1995.
     Regional Arsenic Groundwater Information, ERM-
Southwest, Inc., December 6, 1995.
     Ground Water Statistics Report Post-Construction Year 
6, Vol. I and II, ERM-Southwest, Inc., December 30, 1996.
     EPA Risk Assessment Concurrence on Deletion, USEPA 
Region 6, January 15, 1997.
     Louisiana State Concurrence on Deletion, LDEQ, January 
30, 1997.
     Notice of Intent to Delete, USEPA Region 6, February 
21, 1997.

[FR Doc. 97-14579 Filed 6-3-97; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P