[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 101 (Wednesday, May 27, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 28961-28963]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-13853]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6102-3]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan; National 
Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Novaco Industries Superfund site 
from the National Priorities List; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 
5 announces its intent to delete the Novaco Industries 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 Michigan 
Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) have determined that the 
Site no longer poses a significant threat to public health or the 
environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to 
CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before June 
26, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Russell D. Hart, U.S. EPA Region 
5, Superfund Division, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, Mail Stop: SR-6J, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604. Comprehensive information on this Site is 
available through the administrative record which is available for 
viewing at the following locations:

U.S. EPA Records Center--Seventh Floor, 77 West Jackson Boulevard, 
Chicago, Illinois 60604.
Bedford Township Hall and Monroe County Library--Bedford Branch, 
Bedford, Michigan.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Russell D. Hart, U.S. EPA Region 5, 
Superfund Division, SR-6J Chicago, Illinois 60604, (312) 886-4844.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    EPA Region 5 announces its intent to delete the Novaco Industries 
Site location in Temperance, Michigan from the NPL, Appendix B of the 
NCP, 40 CFR part 300, and requests comments on this deletion. 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 these 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.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for 
thirty days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.
    Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting 
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is 
using for this action. Section IV discusses the Novaco Industries Site 
and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.

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. 
In the case of this Site, the selected remedy is protective of human 
health and the environment. The five year groundwater monitoring 
program required by the 1991 Record of Decision (ROD) Amendment has 
indicated that no hazardous substances or contaminants remain on site 
above

[[Page 28962]]

levels that allow for unlimited use or exposure. Therefore no five year 
review of this remedy is required. 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

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this Site: (1) EPA Region 5 issued a ROD in 1986 which called for 
groundwater extraction, on-site treatment of chromium contaminated 
groundwater, and discharge to Indian Creek; (2) EPA Region 5 amended 
the ROD in 1991 by requiring only additional monitoring well 
installation and a five year monitoring program to verify that no 
unacceptable levels of contaminants from the site remain in the 
groundwater; (3) based on the findings of that five year monitoring 
program the EPA Region 5 determined that no further response is 
appropriate for this site since during the monitoring program no 
exceedances occurred of either hexavalent chromium or total chromium 
drinking water Maximum Contaminant Limit (MCL) of 50 ug/l as 
established by the Safe Drinking Water Act; (4) MDEQ concurrence 
concerning Novaco Industries Site deletion was sought and obtained; (5) 
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 (6) all 
relevant documents, including a tabulation summary of all 1993-1997 
sampling results have been made available for public review in the 
local Site information repositories.
    Deletion of the 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 document.
    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 site summary provides the Agency's rational for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    The Novaco Industries site is located at 9411 Summerfield Road, at 
the intersection of Summerfield and Piehl in Temperance, Michigan. The 
site lies approximately 50 miles south of Detroit and 5 miles north of 
Toledo. The facility occupies a 2.6 acre parcel. The Novaco study area 
consists of Novaco Industries, the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post 
#9656, and nearby residences having water supply wells screened within 
the sand/gravel aquifer or limestone aquifer which could be affected by 
the Novaco site.

B. History

    The Novaco Industries site formerly performed tool and die 
manufacturing and repair. Approximately 85 residences and businesses 
are located within a half-mile of the site. Around 1979, a buried tank 
of chromic acid, used for plating purposes, developed a leak and an 
unknown quantity of acid leaked into the surrounding soils. By the 
early 1980s, chromium was detected at concentrations above both federal 
and state drinking water standards, in three water supply wells at 
Novaco Industries, the nearby VFW Post, and the Moyer's residence and 
one observation well. Novaco replaced the three water supply wells and 
extracted and treated contaminated groundwater in 1979. Following 
winter shutdown of the groundwater purge and treat system, Novaco never 
resumed its operation and declared bankruptcy.
    The Novaco site was subsequently placed on the NPL in September 
1983. While Novaco's short-term remedial operation did succeed in 
removing substantial amounts of contamination (approximately 400 pounds 
of hexavalent chromium), the remaining contamination continued to 
migrate. The Remedial Investigation (RI), performed by the EPA, 
identified a small area of contaminated groundwater with concentrations 
of chromium that exceeded relevant cleanup criteria. Based on these 
studies the EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD) on June 27, 1986, 
which required the installation of a groundwater purge and on-site 
treatment system to remove the remaining contamination.
    Design investigations conducted during spring 1988, determined that 
the previously defined nature and extent of groundwater contamination 
no longer held true at Novaco. Additional investigations were performed 
in the spring of 1989. Based on those studies, which indicated the 
concentrations of chromium contamination no longer exceeded relevant 
cleanup criteria, the EPA proposed to amend the existing ROD to a ``no 
action ROD'' with groundwater monitoring for five years and if the 
chromium concentrations remained below the cleanup criteria no further 
action would be warranted. The state concurred with this amended ROD. 
The EPA issued the amended ROD in September 1991. The groundwater 
monitoring network established during the RI was further developed and 
sampling for the five year program began in February 1993. During the 
first year samples were collected quarterly. Since the results of that 
sampling indicated all samples were below the detection limits stated 
in the quality assurance project plan the frequency of sampling was 
reduced to semi-annually. The five year program has been completed and 
indicated there are no chromium concentrations above relevant cleanup 
criteria. Therefore no further remedial action is needed.
    EPA periodically sent summaries of analytical results to concerned 
residents.
    EPA's ARCS contractor has completed the task of dismantling the 
groundwater monitoring network in accordance with procedures 
established by the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality. This 
work was accomplished in December 1997, and was in part overseen in the 
field by MDEQ representatives.

C. Characterization of Risk

    Confirmational monitoring of groundwater conducted from 1993-1997 
demonstrated that no significant risk to public health or the 
environment is posed by residual materials remaining at the Site. EPA 
and MDEQ believe that conditions at the site do not now pose 
unacceptable risks to human health or the environment.
    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``all appropriate response under CERCLA 
has been implemented, and no further action by responsible parties is 
appropriate.''

[[Page 28963]]

EPA, with the concurrence of MDEQ, believes that this criterion for 
deletion has been met. Subsequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this 
Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action are available from 
the docket.

    Dated: May 14, 1998.
David Ullrich,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region V.
[FR Doc. 98-13853 Filed 5-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P