[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 159 (Tuesday, August 18, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44218-44220]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-21894]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6144-7]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Denzer & Schafer X-Ray Company 
site from the National Priorities List: Request for comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II Office 
announces its intent to delete the Denzer & Schafer X-Ray Company Site 
(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), as amended, 42 U.S.C. 9605. EPA and the 
State of New Jersey have determined that the site poses no 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 
September 17, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Matthew Westgate, Remedial 
Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 
Broadway, 19th floor, New York, NY 10007-1866.
    Comprehensive information on this site is available through the EPA 
Region

[[Page 44219]]

II public docket, which is located at EPA's Region II Office in New 
York City.
    Background information from the Regional public docket is also 
available for viewing at the Site's information repositories located 
at:

Berkeley Township Library 42 Station Road, Bayville, New Jersey 08721, 
Phone: (908) 269-2144
Berkeley Township Municipal Building, P.O. Box B, Pinewald-Keswick 
Road, Bayville, New Jersey 08721, Phone: (908) 244-7400

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Matthew Westgate, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway 
19th floor, New York, NY 10007-1866, Phone: (212) 637-4422.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency Region II announces its intent 
to delete the Denzer & Schafer X-Ray Company Site, located at 186 
Hickory Lane (Block 858, Lot 46A), in Bayville, Berkeley Township, 
Ocean County, New Jersey, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and 
requests public comment on this action. The NPL constitutes appendix B 
of the NCP, 40 CFR part 300. 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 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 Denzer & Schafer X-Ray 
Company 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 procedures that EPA is using 
for this action. Section IV discusses how the Site meets the deletion 
criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e)(l)(i)-(iii) of the NCP provides that sites may 
be deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making this determination, EPA will consider whether any of the 
following criteria have been met:
    (i) EPA, in consultation with the State, has determined that 
responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate response 
actions required; or
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented and EPA, in consultation with the State, has determined 
that no further cleanup by responsible parties is appropriate; or
    (iii) Based on a remedial investigation, EPA, in consultation with 
the State, has determined that the release poses no significant threat 
to public health or the environment and, therefore, taking of remedial 
measures is not appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this site:
    (1) EPA Region II and the State of New Jersey issued a Record of 
Decision (ROD) which documented that no further remedial action is 
necessary at the Denzer & Schafer Site to ensure protection of human 
health and the environment;
    (2) The State of New Jersey concurred with the proposed 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 for EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and
    (4) All relevant documents 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, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the 
NCP states that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude 
eligibility for future response actions.
    For deletion of this Site, EPA's Region II 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, which will address any significant 
public comments received during the public comment period.
    The deletion occurs when the EPA Regional Administrator places a 
final notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect 
any 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 Region II Office.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    The Denzer & Schafer X-Ray Company was located at 186 Hickory Lane 
(Block 858, Lot 46A) approximately 4,700 feet west of Route 9 in the 
Bayville area of Berkeley Township. Barnegat Bay is approximately two 
miles to the east of the Site and Tom's River is two miles to the 
north.

B. History

    The Denzer and Schafer X-Ray Company was engaged in the reclamation 
of silver from microfilm and x-rays. Past activities at the facility 
have included the reclamation of silver by chemical stripping or 
incineration of spent film. In 1974, the company switched from 
incineration to a caustic soda and salt silver reclamation process. 
Between 1974 and 1981, the facility disposed of its stripping solution 
by discharging it to the plant's subsurface sanitary septic system.
    In addition to the silver recovery business, Microindustries, Inc., 
a microfilming service company, was located at the Site. 
Microindustries, Inc. was in operation since 1970 and operated 
exclusively as a microfilming service company. Microfilm processing 
wastes, such as photographic developers and fixers, were generated as 
part of the company's operations. These wastes were discharged to the 
plant's sanitary septic system prior to 1981.
    Periodic sampling of wells installed by the owner since August 1981 
and analyses of soil samples collected at the Site indicated that waste 
from past operations contaminated ground water and soils at the Site.
    The Site was proposed for inclusion on the NPL on December 30, 1982 
and subsequently added to the NPL on September 8, 1983.
    In 1986, DEP under a cooperative agreement with EPA, began a 
Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS). Based on the 
results of the multi-phased RI and subsequent studies, a Record Of 
Decision (ROD) was signed by the Regional Administrator on September 
28, 1995. The ROD documented the decision that no further remedial 
action was necessary at the Denzer & Schafer X-Ray Site because the 
conditions pose no unacceptable risk to human health and the 
environment. The State of New Jersey will continue to monitor the 
groundwater because some

[[Page 44220]]

residual lead contamination remains in the aquifer above drinking water 
standards near the old source area.
    In April 1996, EPA conducted a removal assessment on the abandoned 
facility and subsequently remediated chemicals left at the site. In 
September 1996, the remaining underground storage tank was excavated 
and removed.
    In June 1997, the Berkeley Development Corporation hired 
Brinkerhoff Environmental Services to sample, demolish and dispose of 
the remaining plant building and debris and properly abandon the two 
remaining septic systems. This work was completed in August 1997.

C. Characterization of Human Health Risk

    The RI included the collection and analysis of soil, ground water 
and air samples, an aquifer testing program which included a pump test, 
borehole gamma ray logging, a surface electromagnetic conductivity 
survey, tank testing, test pit excavation and sampling, and process 
waste water sampling.
Groundwater
    Hazardous substances were found in the ground water above Maximum 
Contaminant Levels (MCLs).
    The RI and supplemental investigations concluded that lead in the 
ground water is the only contaminant that exceeds Federal and State 
Drinking Water Standards. Currently, there is not a verified toxicity 
factor for lead that can be used in normal risk assessment 
methodologies to determine the health risks associated with this 
contaminant. However, EPA has developed the Integrated Exposure Uptake 
Bio-Kinetic Model (IEUBK) as a useful tool to aid in making more 
informed decisions about the concentrations of lead in the environment 
that might be expected to impact human health.
    The IEUBK Model was designed to model exposure from lead in the 
environment to predict blood levels in children. Incorporating site-
specific soil and ground water data into the model predicted that 100 
percent of the population would be below the threshold of 10 micrograms 
per deciliter (ug/dl) for children exposed to lead off site. For 
children exposed to lead on site, 99.99 percent of the population would 
be below the threshold of 10 ug/dl. These results indicate that for 
both future residential land use on and off site, the levels are 
consistent with Superfund's lead directive that employs a level of 
protectiveness which results in 95% of the population distribution 
falling below 10 ug/dl.
    However, since the aquifer still exhibits low levels of 
contamination at the Site itself, DEP and EPA developed a monitoring 
program which included sampling of ground and surface waters and 
sediment, including the intermittent pond directly east of the Denzer & 
Schafer X-Ray Company building, Potter Creek to the south and Mill 
Creek to the north.
    In February 1996, the sampling showed lead levels (123 ppb and 19.8 
ppb) above drinking water standards (15 ppb) in two of the five 
groundwater monitoring wells and elevated lead levels (1.9 ppb) in the 
headwaters of Mill Creek, approximately 5,000 feet to the northwest of 
the source area, and in Potter Creek (lead--3.2 ppb), approximately 
2,000 feet to the southeast of the source area. The lead was found at 
levels below the Federal Water Quality Criteria and therefore, does not 
represent a risk to human health or the environment. Upon further 
consultation with DEP and EPA's Biological Technical Assistance Group 
(BTAG), EPA concluded that, because of the great distances separating 
them, the lead found in the groundwater adjacent to the source area is 
not related to the lead found in the headwaters of the two creeks, and 
no future sampling of the creeks would be necessary.
    DEP established a Classification Exception Area in January 1998 
based on the ground water monitoring to ensure that new wells will not 
be installed in the area without appropriate precautions.
Air and Surface Water
    Air samples collected during both phases of the RI showed levels of 
contamination similar to normal background levels.
    Surface water samples were generally free of priority pollutant 
compounds.
Soils
    Some subsurface soils on-site exceed the health-based standards for 
silver. However, it was determined that soil contamination does not 
pose an unacceptable risk. The possibility for oral, dermal, and 
inhalation exposure to silver in subsurface soils is remote.

D. Ecological Risk

    Ecological risks were not characterized because the significant 
risk is associated with contaminated ground water and no exposure 
pathway exists.

E. Protectiveness

    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if 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. EPA, with the concurrence of the DEP, believes this 
criterion for deletion has been met. Details on the decision can be 
found in the ROD issued in September 1995. Subsequently, EPA is 
proposing deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this 
action are available from the docket.

    Dated: July 8, 1998.
William J. Muszynski,
Regional Administrator, Region II.
[FR Doc. 98-21894 Filed 8-17-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P