[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 158 (Monday, August 17, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43900-43901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22060]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6146-2]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete a portion of the Sangamo Weston/
Twelve Mile Creek/Lake Hartwell (Sangamo) Superfund Site from the 
National Priorities List (NPL).

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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA), 
Region 4, announces its intent to partially delete a portion of the 
Sangamo Superfund 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). EPA is pursuing a partial 
deletion for the Sangamo Superfund Site based on a policy change 
intended to support economic redevelopment for Superfund sites. This 
partial deletion will be for an unused portion of the site (across 
Sangamo Road from the plant property) and also includes three of the 
six remote properties which are within a few miles of the plant 
property. The three remote properties proposed for deletion are 
Trotter, Nix, and Welborn properties. There is no groundwater 
contamination at the areas proposed for deletion. EPA and the State of 
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control have 
determined that these areas pose no significant threat to public health 
or the environment and therefore, CERCLA remedial measures are not 
appropriate for the unused tract of land, and no further remedial 
measures are necessary for the three remote properties.

DATES: EPA will accept comments concerning the Sangamo Site partial 
deletion proposal until September 16, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Sheri Panabaker, US EPA, Region 
4, 61 Forsyth St., WD-NSMB, SW, Atlanta, GA, 30303.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA 
Region 4 public docket, which is located at EPA's Region 4 office and 
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 regional public docket 
should be directed to the EPA Region 4 docket office.
    The address for the regional docket office is: U.S. EPA, Region 4, 
61 Forsyth St., SW, Atlanta, GA, 30303, attn: Ms. Debbie Jourdan. The 
telephone number is 404-562-8862.
    Background information from the regional public docket is also 
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at the 
following locations: R.M. Cooper Library, Clemson University, South 
Palmetto Boulvard, Clemson, SC (864) 656-5174; Pickens County Public 
Library, Easley Branch, 110 West First Avenue, Easley, SC (864) 850-
7077; Hart County Library, 150 Benson Street, Hartwell, GA (706) 376-
4655.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact either Sheri Panabaker 
(Remedial Project Manager) or Cynthia Peurifoy (Community Relations 
Coordinator) at 1-800-435-9233 or 404-562-8810. E-mail address is 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Introduction

    This document is to announce EPA's intent to delete a portion of 
the Sangamo Site from the NPL. It also serves to request public 
comments on the partial deletion proposal.
    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. Sites on the NPL qualify for remedial responses 
financed by the Hazardous Substances Response Trust Fund (Fund). As 
described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL 
remain eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions in the unlikely 
event that conditions at the site warrant such actions. EPA will accept 
comments on the proposal to delete a site from the NPL for thirty days 
after publication of this document in the Federal Register.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from 
the NPL. In accordance with Sec. 300.425(e) of the NCP, sites may be 
deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making this determination, EPA, in consultation with the State, 
considers whether the site has met any of the following criteria for 
site deletion:
    (i) Responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate 
response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been 
implemented and no further response actions are deemed necessary; or
    (iii) The remedial investigation has determined that the release 
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, no remedial action is appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

    EPA Region 4 will accept and evaluate public comments before making 
a final decision to delete. Comments from the local community may be 
the most pertinent to deletion decisions. The following procedures were 
used for the intended deletion of a portion of the Sangamo Site:
    (1) EPA Region 4 has recommended this partial deletion and has 
prepared the relevant documents.
    (2) The State concurs with the decision to delete a portion of the 
Sangamo Site.
    (3) Concurrent with this announcement, a notice has been published 
in the local newspaper and has been distributed to appropriate federal, 
state, and local officials

[[Page 43901]]

announcing the commencement of a 30-day public comment period on the 
Notice of Intent to Delete.
    (4) EPA has made all relevant documents available for public review 
at the information repository and in the Regional Office.
    Partial 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 information purposes and to assist EPA 
management. As mentioned earlier, section 300.425(e)(30) of the NCP 
states that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude 
eligibility of the site for future Fund-financed response actions.
    For the partial deletion of this site, EPA will accept and evaluate 
public comments on this Notice of Intent to Delete before finalizing 
the decision. The Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to 
address any significant public comments received during the comment 
period. The deletion is finalized after the Regional Administrator 
places a Notice of Deletion in the Federal Register.
    The NPL will reflect any deletions in the next publication of the 
final rule. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness Summary 
will be made available to local residents by Region 4.

IV. Basis for Intended Sangamo Site Partial Deletion

    The following Site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposed intent for partial deletion of this Site from the NPL.
    The Sangamo site (Site) is located in Pickens County, South 
Carolina. Sangamo Weston, Inc. owned and operated a capacitor 
manufacturing plant in Pickens, South Carolina from 1955 to 1987. In 
its manufacturing processes, Sangamo used several varieties of 
dielectric fluids which contained several varieties of polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs reportedly enhanced the performance and 
durability of the fluids. Waste disposal practices from the Sangamo 
Plant included land-burial of off-specification capacitors and 
wastewater treatment sludges on the plant site and six satellite 
(remote) disposal areas within a 3-mile radius of the plant. Three of 
these, which are proposed for deletion, are the Trotter, Nix, and 
Welborn properties. PCBs were also discharged with the effluent 
directly into Town Creek, which is a tributary of Twelvemile Creek. 
Twelvemile Creek is a major tributary of the 56,000 acre Lake Hartwell. 
As part of its overall strategy in addressing the Sangamo site, EPA 
split the site into two Operable Units. Operable Unit One (OU1) 
consists of the land-based source areas including the plant site and 
the six satellite disposal areas. OU2 addresses the sediment and 
biological impacts downstream of the land-based source areas.
    The specific areas associated with this partial delisting include 
only a portion of the soils for OU1. The areas proposed for delisting 
(an unused tract of land across from the plant property, and three 
remote properties, Trotter, Nix, and Welborn) have been the subject of 
previous investigations. The majority of the investigatory and remedial 
actions taken within the area targeted for partial delisting was 
performed under a Consent Decree, dated April 15, 1992.
    An RI/FS was initiated by the potentially responsible party 
(Schlumberger Industries, Inc. (SII)) in 1988, which showed soils to be 
primarily contaminated with PCBs, but there were also VOCs and metals 
detected. The Record of Decision (ROD) was signed in December 1990 
which stated that the contaminated soils would be treated by thermal 
desorption. The groundwater at these three remote properties did not 
pose a risk to human health or the environment and, therefore, remedial 
action was not warranted for the groundwater.
    Under a Consent Decree with SII signed in April 1992, the 
contaminated soils were excavated from all six of the remote properties 
between November 1993 and July 1994. The soils were excavated to 10 
parts per million (ppm) for the remote properties (except for the 
ravine parts of the Nix and Welborn properties, which were excavated to 
1 ppm), and to 25 ppm on the plant property. Sampling to confirm the 
effectiveness of the waste removal efforts showed that the performance 
standards were achieved. The excavated areas were then backfilled with 
clean soil. Treatment of all contaminated soils (from the six remote 
properties and the plant property) by thermal desorption began in 
December 1995, and was completed in May 1997. Approximately 60,000 tons 
(40,000 cubic yards) of contaminated soils were treated to 2 ppm. The 
cleanup level was confirmed through sampling of treated soils.
    Samples collected from the unused property across the street from 
the plant site did not detect any of the contaminants stated in the 
ROD.
    The remedial activities associated with removing contaminated soil 
within the areas targeted for partial delisting at the Sangamo Site are 
considered a permanent remedy. No additional treatment of soils within 
these areas will be necessary. As such, no operation and maintenance 
activities are necessary for these areas. Because no hazardous 
substances, pollutants, or contaminants remain in the soils within the 
areas targeted for partial delisting, no Five Year Review will be 
performed on these areas.
    EPA, in concurrence with the State of South Carolina Department of 
Health & Environmental Control, has determined that all appropriate 
Fund-financed responses under CERCLA for the soils within the areas 
targeted for this partial deletion have been completed, and that no 
further activities by responsible parties are appropriate. Therefore, 
EPA proposes to delete these areas from the NPL.

    Dated: August 6, 1998.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 98-22060 Filed 8-14-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P