[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 154 (Wednesday, August 11, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43641-43643]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-20464]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6416-6]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Vestal Water Supply Well 4-2 
Superfund Site from the National Priorities List: request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region II announces 
its intent to delete the Vestal Water Supply Well 4-2 (Vestal 4-2) 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 EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
(CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the State of New York have determined 
that no further action is appropriate at the Vestal 4-2 Site under 
CERCLA. Moreover, EPA and the State have determined that the activities 
conducted at the Vestal 4-2 Site are protective of public health and 
the environment.

DATES: Comments concerning the deletion of the Vestal 4-2 Site from the 
NPL may be submitted on or before September 10, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Lorenzo Thantu, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway, 
20th Floor, New York, NY 10007.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA 
Region II public docket, which is located at EPA's Region II Office in 
New York City, and is available for viewing, by appointment only, from 
9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. For 
further information or to request an appointment to review the public

[[Page 43642]]

docket, please contact Mr. Thantu at (212) 637-4240.
    Background information from the EPA Region II public docket related 
to the Vestal 4-2 Site is also available for viewing at the information 
repositories noted below:
    Vestal Town Hall, 605 Vestal Parkway West, Vestal, NY 13850; and 
Vestal Public Library, 320 Vestal Parkway East, Vestal, NY 13850.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lorenzo Thantu, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway, 
20th Floor, New York, NY 10007, (212) 637-4240.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    EPA Region II announces its intent to delete the Vestal Water 
Supply Well 4-2 Site (Site), located in Vestal, Broome County, New 
York, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public 
comment on this action. The NPL constitutes appendix B to 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). 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 Hazardous Substances 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 
conditions at such sites warrant such action.
    The Vestal 4-2 Site is located on the west side of Prentice Road in 
the Town of Vestal, Broome County, New York. The Town of Vestal is 
about five miles southwest of Binghamton. Well 4-2 is about 1,000 feet 
south of the Susquehanna River and is one of four water supply wells in 
Water District Number 4 of the Town of Vestal.
    EPA will accept comments concerning the Vestal 4-2 Site for thirty 
days after publication of this document in the Federal Register.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e)(1) (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, in consultation with the State of New 
York, considers whether any of the following criteria has been met:
    (i) Responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate 
response actions required; or,
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented and no further cleanup by responsible parties is 
appropriate; or,
    (iii) The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses 
no significant threat to human health or the environment and, 
therefore, taking remedial measures is not appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the 
Site:
    (1) Two Reports, issued in 1980 and 1981, determined that the 
source of Vestal 4-2 contamination was the Monarch Chemical, Inc. 
facility.
    (2) In 1993, the Town of Vestal had a former dry well and 
surrounding soils removed from the Monarch facility.
    (3) In 1997, groundwater sampling confirmed the cleanup of the 
aquifer.
    (4) The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation 
(NYSDEC) concurred with the deletion in a letter dated September 29, 
1998.
    (5) EPA Region II has recommended deletion and has prepared the 
relevant documents. EPA has also made all relevant documents available 
in the Regional office and local Vestal 4-2 Site information 
repositories.
    (6) Concurrent with this national Notice of Intent to Delete, a 
notice has been published in a local newspaper and has been distributed 
to appropriate Federal, State and local officials and other interested 
parties announcing a thirty-day public comment period on the deletion.
    Comments received during the comment period will be evaluated 
before any final decision is made. If necessary, EPA Region II will 
prepare a Responsiveness Summary which will address any significant 
comments received during the public comment period. A deletion occurs 
when the EPA Regional Administrator places a final Notice of Deletion 
in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    In February 1980, Vestal Water Supply Well 4-2 was found to be 
contaminated with trichloroethene, 1,1,1-trichloroethane and 
tetrachloroethene. The Vestal 4-2 Site was listed on the NPL on 
September 1, 1983.
    An October 1980 report entitled, ``Hydrogeologic Investigation of 
Organic Contamination at Monarch Chemicals, Inc.,'' and an April 7, 
1981 draft report entitled, ``Hydrologic Study of a Portion of the 
Susquehanna River Valley in the Town of Vestal, Broome County, New York 
with Emphasis on Chemical Contamination of the Aquifer,'' together 
delineated the nature and extent of the suspected contamination at the 
Vestal 4-2 Site and documented that the Monarch facility was the source 
of contamination of Well 4-2.
    The Monarch Chemicals is located approximately 200 feet south and 
hydraulically upgradient of Well 4-2. Monarch Chemicals began 
operations around 1970, repackaging chemicals including 1,1,1-
trichloroethane, trichloroethene and other chlorinated solvents as part 
of a bulk chemical handling operation.
    In April 1983, the ``Town of Vestal Water District No. 4, 
Groundwater Exploration'' report was released. The report found that 
the contamination in the vicinity of Well 4-2 was a localized 
condition. The report also indicated that although Monarch Chemicals 
vacated its premises in the Fall of 1982, the continued presence of 
contaminants in Well 4-2 indicated that the Monarch facility remained 
contaminated. The report recommended that Well 4-2 should continue to 
pump to waste unless another remedial action were taken to remove the 
contamination. These conclusions mapped out the remedial alternatives 
which were later incorporated in the New York State Enforcement Action, 
also known as the Settlement Agreements.
    In 1985, the New York State Department of Law, Attorney General's 
Office along with the Town of Vestal and the Vestal Water Districts No. 
3, 4 and 6 signed two Settlement Agreements with the responsible 
parties at the Site.
    In September 1988, as a result of the Settlement Agreements, an air 
stripper and additional carbon filtration were installed at Well 4-2. 
The air stripping system reduced contaminant levels in groundwater to 
below detection limits.
    On December 14, 1993, approximately 26 cubic yards (42 tons) of 
material were excavated including the former dry well and surrounding 
soils from the Monarch Chemicals facility.
    In order to determine if groundwater contaminants had attenuated 
and if it were appropriate to begin the NPL delisting process for the 
Site, EPA sampled the groundwater in the vicinity of the Vestal 4-2 
Site on May 8, 1997, June 11, 1997 and September 10, 1997. The results 
of the sampling showed that groundwater contamination in the vicinity 
of the former Monarch

[[Page 43643]]

Chemicals dry well had decreased, such that it was at or approaching 
drinking water standards.
    EPA's 1997 sampling data are consistent with the Town's monthly 
monitoring results for samples collected prior to the air stripper. 
Therefore, the primary pathways associated with the Vestal 4-2 Site 
that threatened public health have been addressed. EPA summarized the 
actions taken at this Site in a Superfund Site Close Out Report dated 
September 30, 1998.
    EPA and NYSDEC have determined that all appropriate responses under 
CERCLA at the Site have been completed, and that no further activities 
are necessary. Consequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site 
from the National Priorities List. Documents supporting this action are 
available in the docket.

    Dated: July 27, 1999.
Herb Barrack,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 99-20464 Filed 8-10-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P