[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 166 (Thursday, August 27, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 45780-45781]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22790]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6151-3]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Coshocton City Landfill Site, 
Coshocton, Ohio, from the National Priorities List; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) 
Region V announces its intent to delete the Coshocton City Landfill 
Site (the 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 and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan (NCP), which U.S. EPA promulgated pursuant to section 
105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) as amended. This action is being taken 
by U.S. EPA, because it has been determined that Responsible parties or 
other persons have implemented all appropriate response actions 
required, and U.S. EPA, in consultation with the State of Ohio, has 
determined that no further response is appropriate. Moreover, U.S. EPA 
and the State have determined that remedial activities conducted at the 
Site to date have been protective of public health, welfare, and the 
environment.

DATES: Any comments concerning the proposed deletion of the Site from 
the NPL must be submitted on or before September 28, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Gladys Beard, Associate Remedial 
Project Manager, Superfund Division, U.S. EPA, Region V, 77 W. Jackson 
Blvd. (SR-6J), Chicago, IL 60604. Comprehensive information on the site 
is available at U.S. EPA's Region V office and at the local information 
repository located at: Coshocton Public Library, 655 Main Street, 
Coshocton, Ohio. Requests for copies of documents or the comprehensive 
set of information should be directed formally to the Region V Docket 
Office. The address and phone number for the Regional Docket Officer is 
Jan Pfundheller (H-7J), U.S. EPA, Region V, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., 
Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 353-5821.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Anthony Rutter Remedial Project 
Manager at (312) 886-8961 or Sherry Estes (C-14J), Assistance Regional 
Counsel, Superfund Division, U.S. EPA, Region V, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., 
Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 886-7164 or Robert Paulson (P-19J), Office of 
Public Affairs, U.S. EPA, Region V, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 
60604, (312) 886-0273.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) Region V 
announces its intent to delete the Coshocton City Landfill Site from 
the National Priorities List (NPL), which constitutes Appendix B of the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 
and requests comments on the proposed deletion. The U.S. 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 Potentially Responsible Parties or the Hazardous Substance 
Superfund Response Trust Fund (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 the conditions at the Site warrant such 
action.
    The U.S. EPA will accept comments on this proposal for thirty (30) 
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 U.S. EPA is 
using for this action. Section IV discusses the history of this Site 
and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.
    Deletion of sites from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. Furthermore, deletion 
from the NPL does not in any way alter U.S. EPA's right to take 
enforcement actions, as appropriate. The NPL is designed primarily for 
informational purposes and to assist in Agency management.

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), sites may be 
deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making this determination, U.S. EPA will consider, in consultation with 
the State, whether any of the following criteria have been met:
    (i) Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required; or
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have 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 the environment and, 
therefore, remedial measures are not appropriate.

[[Page 45781]]

III. Deletion Procedures

    Upon determination that at least one of the criteria described in 
Sec. 300.425(e) has been met, U.S. EPA may formally begin deletion 
procedures once the State has concurred. This Federal Register 
document, and a concurrent notice in the local newspaper in the 
vicinity of the Site, announce the initiation of a 30-day comment 
period. The public is asked to comment on U.S. EPA's intention to 
delete the Site from the NPL. All critical documents needed to evaluate 
U.S. EPA's decision are included in the information repository and the 
deletion docket.
    Upon completion of the public comment period, if necessary, the 
U.S. EPA Regional Office will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to 
evaluate and address comments that were received. The public is welcome 
to contact the U.S. EPA Region V Office to obtain a copy of this 
responsiveness summary, if one is prepared. If U.S. EPA then determines 
that the deletion from the NPL is appropriate, final notice of deletion 
will be published in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The Coshocton City Landfill was built on an abandoned coal strip 
mine and is a 28 acre landfill in Franklin Township, Coshocton County, 
Ohio, 3.5 miles southeast of the City of Coshocton, Ohio. Much of the 
land to the south and to the west of the site has been mined and 
reclaimed.
    The Coshocton Landfill is located between two small intermittent 
creeks that drain toward the southwest into the Muskingum River, 1.5 
miles west of the site. Active, abandoned, and reclaimed coal strip 
mines are scattered throughout the region. In 1968, the City of 
Coshocton purchased the landfill property and used the Site for 
disposal of municipal and industrial wastes. Disposal ceased in 1979 
and the landfill was closed.
    The first set of expanded samples collected from existing 
monitoring wells in 1982 indicated the presence of VOCs in the ground 
water near the Site. Subsequent sampling confirmed the presence of VOCs 
in the groundwater.
    The Coshocton Landfill Site was releasing contaminants to the 
environment. The major release mechanism was leachate migrating to 
surface water. However, the extent of the leachate's migration to 
groundwater was unclear. Results of samples taken from leachate, 
groundwater, surface water, and sediment water, and sediment identified 
approximately 30 chemical constituents.
    In September 1983, the Site was placed on the U.S. EPA's National 
Priorities List (NPL) (48 FR 175). On March 30, 1984, U. S. EPA issued 
a unilateral administrative order to the City of Coshocton requiring it 
to undertake some interim measures, primarily to protect surface water 
and to address the leachate being generated. Approximately six months 
later, U.S. EPA determined that the City's proposal complied with the 
terms of the order, and by letter dated April 16, 1986, U. S. EPA 
agreed to relieve the City of its obligation to perform quarterly 
sampling.
    The Remedial Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study (FS) were 
released for public comment on February 8, 1988. The comment period was 
extended twice and closed on March 17, 1988. A public meeting was held 
on February 23, 1988. A presentation on the RI and FS was made and then 
a question and answer session, as well as an opportunity for making 
public comments, was held. Public comments were also submitted to U. S. 
EPA by mail. A Responsiveness Summary to these comments was compiled.
    The Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by U. S. EPA on June 17, 
1988. The Record of Decision (ROD) called for the construction of a 
landfill cap; regrading; revegetation; and groundwater, surface water, 
and landfill gas monitoring. In addition, future land-use restrictions 
were to be placed on the property. The groundwater, surface water and 
landfill gas monitoring was to be used to determine the necessity of 
installing a leachate collection and treatment system, and a landfill 
gas collection and venting system. It was determined during the 
Remedial Design that it was not necessary to install a leachate 
collection system or a gas venting system. If a residence is documented 
to be within 1,000 feet of the landfill, then the ROD called for the 
preparation and submittal of an explosive gas monitoring plan to U.S. 
EPA and Ohio EPA (OEPA) within 90 days of the site inspection noting 
the presence of the residence. An explosive gas monitoring plan was not 
prepared because there weren't any residences within 1,000 feet of the 
landfill.
    Six potentially responsible parties signed a remedial design/
remedial action (RD/RA) consent decree with U.S. EPA to implement the 
response activities determined to be necessary in the 1988 ROD. The RD/
RA was entered by the Court on July 22, 1991, after a thirty-day public 
comment period, and after the filing of certain objections by Pretty 
Products, Inc, a potentially responsible party which did not sign the 
RD/RA consent decree. The RD/RA Settling Defendants consisted of the 
following parties: the City of Coshocton, Ohio; General Electric 
Company; Steel Ceilings Division of Airtex Corporation; Stone Container 
Corporation; Excello, Inc.; Edmont-Wilson, Inc., a/k/a Becton Dickinson 
and Company; Buckeye Fabric Finishers, Inc.; and Shaw-Barton, Inc. The 
Settling Defendants completed the response activities required by the 
RD/RA Consent Decree and the ROD with U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA oversight. 
Pretty Products, Inc. subsequently entered into a cost recovery 
settlement with U.S. EPA, for U.S. EPA's unreimbursed past and 
oversight costs.
    On September 25, 1995, the Close Out Report was signed. The Report 
documented that the response actions were constructed consistent with 
the approved remedial design, and with the ROD. Groundwater monitoring 
occurring subsequent to the Close Out Report documented that 
contaminants were found below the clean-up levels. For this reason, 
U.S. EPA proposes to delete the Site from the NPL.
    U.S. EPA, with concurrence from the State of Ohio, has determined 
that all Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required at the Coshocton Landfill 
Superfund Site, and no further CERCLA response actions are appropriate 
in order to provide protection of public health and environment. 
Therefore, U.S. EPA proposes to delete the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: August 14, 1998.
Norman Niedergang,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region V.
[FR Doc. 98-22790 Filed 8-26-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P