[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 25 (Monday, February 7, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 5844-5847]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-2479]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6532-5]


National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan: 
National Priorities List

AGENCY:  Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION:  Notice of Intent for Partial Deletion of Moton Elementary 
School, including Mugrauer Playground (Operable Unit 4) and Groundwater 
(Operable Unit 5) of the Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site 
from the National Priorities List and request for comments.

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SUMMARY:  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 
announces its intent to delete Moton Elementary School, including 
Mugrauer Playground (Operable Unit 4) and Groundwater (Operable Unit 5) 
of the Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund

[[Page 5845]]

Site from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public 
comment on this proposed action.
    The NPL, promulgated pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 
1980, as amended, constitutes Appendix B of 40 CFR Part 300 which is 
the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan 
(NCP). The EPA, in consultation with the State of Louisiana, through 
the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), has 
determined that the Operable Units pose no significant threat to public 
health, welfare, or the environment and, therefore, further remedial 
measures pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES:  The EPA will accept comments concerning its proposal to delete 
for thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the Federal 
Register and a newspaper of general circulation.

ADDRESSES:  Comments may be mailed to: Ms. Janetta Coats, Community 
Relations Coordinator, EPA (6SF-PO), 1445 Ross Ave., Dallas, Texas 
75202-2733, (214)665-7308 or 1-800-533-3508 (Toll Free).
    Information Repositories: Comprehensive information on the site has 
been compiled in a public docket which is available for viewing at the 
Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site information repositories:

    EPA Region 6, 7th Floor Reception Area, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 
1000, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-6548, Mon.-Fri. 8 a.m. to 4 
p.m.
Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality, Inactive and Abandoned 
Sites Division, 7290 Bluebonnet Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70809, 
(504) 765-0487, Mon.--Fri. 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Agriculture Street Landfill Site, Community Outreach Office, 3221 Press 
Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70126, (504) 944-6445, Mon. 12 noon to 6 
p.m., Tues., Thurs., and Fri. 3 to 6 p.m., Wed. 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:  Ms. Ursula R. Lennox, Remedial 
Project Manager, EPA (6SF-LP), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-
2733, (214) 665-6743 or 1-800-533-3508 (Toll Free).

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 announces 
its intent to delete Moton Elementary School, including Mugrauer 
Playground (Operable Unit 4) and Groundwater (Operable Unit 5), two 
portions of the Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site from the 
National Priorities List (NPL), Appendix B of the National Oil and 
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), Code of Federal 
Regulations, Title 40 (40 CFR), Part 300, and requests comments on the 
proposed deletion. OU Nos. 1, 2, and 3 (undeveloped property, 
residential area, and Shirley Jefferson Community Center) are not the 
subject of this partial deletion.
    The 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, 
sites or portions of sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible for 
remedial actions in the unlikely event that site conditions warrant 
such action.
    The EPA will accept comments concerning its intent to delete OU 
Nos. 4 and 5 for thirty (30) days after publication of this notice. The 
EPA has also published a notice of the availability of this Notice Of 
Intent for Partial Deletion (NOID) in a major newspaper of general 
circulation at or near the site.
    Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites 
from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is using for 
this action. Section IV discusses the Agriculture Street Landfill 
Superfund site and demonstrates how Operable Units 4 and 5 meet 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 Fund-financed 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, CERCLA Section 121(c), 42 
U.S.C. 9621(c) requires that a subsequent review of the site be 
conducted at least every five years after the initiation of the 
remedial action at the site to ensure that the action remains 
protective of public health and the environment. 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 application of the Hazard Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the proposed deletion of the 
site:
    (1) EPA Region 6 issued a Record of Decision on September 2, 1997 
which documented that no further remedial action is necessary to ensure 
protection of human health and the environment for Agriculture Street 
Landfill's Operable Unit 4 and Operable Unit 5;
    (2) LDEQ, on behalf of the State of Louisiana, concurred by letter 
dated August 28, 1997, with EPA's decision that no action was necessary 
for Operable Units 4 and 5 and that deletion from the NPL was 
appropriate;
    (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 availability of the Notice of 
Intent for Partial Deletion and the commencement of a 30-day public 
comment period; and,
    (4) EPA placed copies of documents supporting the proposed deletion 
in the site information repositories identified above.
    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 informational purposes and to assist Agency management. 
As mentioned in Section II of this notice, 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, should future conditions 
warrant such actions.
    This Federal Register notice, and a concurrent notice in a 
newspaper of record, announce the initiation of a thirty (30) day 
public comment period and the availability of the Notice of Intent for 
Partial Deletion. The public is asked to comment on EPA's proposal to 
delete OU Nos. 4 and 5 from the NPL. All critical documents needed to

[[Page 5846]]

evaluate EPA's decision are included in the Deletion Docket and are 
available for review at the information repositories.
    Upon completion of the thirty (30) day public comment period, EPA 
will evaluate all comments received before issuing the final decision 
on the partial deletion. The EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary 
for comments received during the public comment period and will address 
concerns presented in the comments. The Responsiveness Summary will be 
made available to the public at the information repositories listed 
previously, and members of the public are encouraged to review them. 
If, after review of all public comments, EPA determines that the 
partial deletion from the NPL is appropriate, EPA will publish a final 
notice of partial deletion in the Federal Register. Deletion of OU Nos. 
4 and 5 does not actually occur until the final Notice of Partial 
Deletion is published in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Partial Site Deletion

    The following information provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposal to delete OU Nos. 4 and 5 from the NPL and EPA's finding that 
the criteria in 40 CFR 300.425(e) are satisfied.

A. Site Location

    The Agriculture Street Landfill Superfund Site (site) is 
approximately 95 acres and is located in the eastern section of the 
city of New Orleans. The site is bound on the north by Higgins 
Boulevard, and on the south and west by the Southern Railroad rights-
of-way. The eastern site boundary extends from the cul-de-sac at the 
southern end of Clouet Street, near the railroad tracks, to Higgins 
Boulevard between Press and Montegut streets. Approximately 48 acres 
are undeveloped property. The other 47 acres are developed with 
multiple- and single-family residences, commercial properties, a 
community center, and a school.
    To effectively investigate and develop alternatives for the 
remediation of the site, EPA divided the site into five operable units 
(OUs):

 OU1--The undeveloped (currently fenced-in) property;
 OU2--The residential development which consists of the Gordon 
Plaza Apartments, single family dwellings in Gordon Plaza subdivision, 
and the Press Park town homes;
 OU3--Shirley Jefferson Community Center (formerly known as 
Press Park Community Center);
 OU4--Moton Elementary School which includes Mugrauer 
Playground; and,
 OU5--Groundwater.

    Operable Unit 4 is located in the southeast corner of the site. 
Coordinates for its four corners, beginning in the northwest are 
29 deg.59' 18.76" north latitude, 90 deg.02' 20.26" west longitude; 
29 deg.59' 17.52" north latitude, 90 deg.02' 20.52" west longitude; 
29 deg.59' 11.12" north latitude, 90 deg.02' 27.67" west longitude; and 
29 deg.59' 09.63" north latitude, 90 deg.02' 21.76" west longitude. 
Operable Unit 5 is designated as the groundwater beneath the site, 
within which no identified plume of contamination has been specified.

B. Site History

    The Agriculture Street Landfill was a municipal waste landfill 
operated by the City of New Orleans. Operations at the site began in 
approximately 1909 and continued until the landfill was closed in the 
late 1950's. The landfill was reopened for approximately one year in 
1965 for use as an open burning and disposal area for debris left in 
the wake of Hurricane Betsy. Records indicate that during its operation 
the landfill received municipal waste, ash from the city's incineration 
of municipal waste, and debris and ash from open burning. There is no 
evidence that industrial or chemical wastes were ever transported to, 
or disposed of at, the site.
    From the 1970's through the late 1980's, approximately 47 acres of 
the site were developed for private and public uses that included: 
private single-family homes, multiple-family private and public housing 
units, Shirley Jefferson Community Center, a recreation center, retail 
businesses, the Moton Elementary School, and an electrical substation. 
The remaining 48 acres of the former landfill are currently undeveloped 
and covered with vegetation. Previous investigations on the undeveloped 
property have indicated the presence of hazardous substances, 
pollutants, or contaminants at concentrations above background and/or 
regulatory levels.
    In 1986, EPA Region 6 conducted a Site Inspection and prepared a 
Hazard Ranking System (HRS) documentation record package utilizing the 
1982 HRS model. The site score was not sufficient for the site to be 
considered for proposal and inclusion on the NPL. Pursuant to the 
requirements of Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act of 1986 
(SARA), which amended the original Superfund legislation, EPA published 
a revised HRS model on December 14, 1990. At the request of area 
community leaders, EPA initiated, in September 1993, an Expanded Site 
Inspection (ESI) to support the preparation of an updated HRS 
documentation record package that would evaluate the site's risks using 
the revised HRS model. Subsequently, on August 23, 1994, the site was 
proposed for inclusion on the NPL as part of NPL update No. 17, and on 
December 16, 1994, EPA placed the site on the NPL.
    Prior to 1994, access to OU1, the undeveloped portion of the former 
landfill, was unrestricted, allowing unauthorized waste disposal and 
exposure to contaminants of potential concern such as lead, arsenic and 
carcinogenic polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (cPAHs) found in the 
surface and subsurface soils. In a time-critical removal action, 
initiated in March 1994, EPA installed an 8-foot-high, chain-link fence 
topped with barbed wire around the entire undeveloped portion of the 
former landfill.
    Concurrent with the time-critical removal action, EPA performed a 
Remedial Removal Integrated Investigation (RRII) of the entire site. 
RRII fieldwork was conducted from April 4 through June 20, 1994. 
Samples of surface and subsurface soil, sediment, surface water, 
groundwater, air, dust, tap water, garden produce, and paint chips 
collected during the field investigation were submitted to specialized 
laboratories for analysis. Aerial photographs, geophysical 
investigations and computer modeling were used to supplement the 
analytical data in defining site boundaries and evaluating migration 
pathways. These data were also used to prepare the Human Health Risk 
Assessment and the Ecological Risk Assessment.
    Based on information presented in the RRII report, EPA conducted a 
second time-critical removal action at the site in February 1995, and 
performed confirmational air and groundwater sampling. Through this 
sampling event, EPA was able to obtain a second round of analyses of 
the groundwater, to clarify earlier identified ambient air 
contaminants, and to verify composition and magnitude of indoor air 
contaminants. In 1995, EPA prepared an Engineering Evaluation and Cost 
Analysis examining response action alternatives for Operable Units 1-3.
    EPA Region 6 issued a Record of Decision selecting the no action 
alternative for Operable Units 4 and 5 on September 2, 1997. On the 
same day, EPA signed an Action Memorandum selecting non-time-critical 
removal actions for Operable Units 1, 2, and 3.

C. Characterization of Risk

    No further action will be taken by EPA on Moton School, including 
the Mugrauer Playground (OU4) and

[[Page 5847]]

Groundwater (OU5). This decision is based on the risk assessment that 
evaluated Moton School (OU4) and Groundwater (OU5), which concluded 
that no unacceptable risk exists that is attributable to site related 
contaminants.
    The baseline Human Health Risk Assessment, conducted as part of the 
Remedial Removal Integrated Investigation for this site, evaluated 
potential adverse health effects associated with site-related 
contaminants in the absence of remedial action. As part of the baseline 
Risk Assessment, an extensive evaluation of exposures to lead was 
performed, using EPA's Integrated Exposure Uptake Biokinetic (IEUBK) 
model. For contaminants other than lead, the likelihood of adverse 
public health impacts associated with long-term exposure to site-
related contaminants was determined by (a) estimating potential excess 
lifetime cancer risks for carcinogens and (b) by computing hazard 
indices (HIs) for non-carcinogens. Federal laws, regulations, and 
guidance define a range of acceptable cancer risks of 1  x  10-4 
(one in ten thousand) to 1  x  10-6 (one in one million), 
and a Hazard Index of unity (1) for non-cancer risks.
    For Moton School (OU4), the total excess lifetime cancer risk posed 
to children attending the school was estimated 2  x  10-5 
(or two in one hundred thousand), which is within the acceptable risk 
range specified by federal law, regulations, and guidance. Most of this 
estimated risk was attributable to inhalation of non-site-related 
benzene and chloroform from indoor and outdoor air. In addition, none 
of the HIs exceeded EPA's regulatory benchmark of unity.
    Given the findings of the Risk Assessment, no further action for 
this operable unit is warranted. Deletion from the NPL should clear the 
way for beneficial utilization of the property of the City of New 
Orleans or the New Orleans School Board.
    For the Groundwater Operable Unit, (OU5), information supplied to 
EPA by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality indicates that 
the shallow aquifer beneath the site is not suitable for human 
consumption, is not used for any beneficial purpose, and is not 
considered a potential future source of drinking water. Residents at 
the site area are connected to the municipal water supply for domestic 
water requirements. There are no on-site drinking water wells. Site 
groundwater presents no other exposure pathway. Therefore, no further 
action for this operable unit is warranted.
    Because these no-action remedies will result in hazardous 
substances remaining on-site, a review will be conducted every five 
years after commencement of remedial action in accordance with CERCLA 
Section 121(c), 42 U.S.C. 9621(c). Should future reviews indicate that 
the site poses an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, 
then EPA may initiate response actions under the authority of CERCLA 
and in accordance with the NCP.

D. Community Involvement

    Public participation activities have been satisfied as required in 
CERCLA Section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and Section 117, 42 U.S.C. 
9617. Documents in the deletion docket which EPA relied on for 
recommendation of the Partial deletion from the NPL are available to 
the public in the information repositories.

E. Proposed Action

    The EPA, with concurrence of the State of Louisiana (LDEQ), has 
determined that Operable Unit 4 (Moton Elementary School, including 
Mugrauer Playground) and Operable Unit 5 (Groundwater) pose no 
significant threat to public health or the environment; therefore, no 
remedial measures are appropriate. In accordance with EPA policy on 
partial deletion of sites listed on the National Priorities List, EPA 
proposes to delete OU4 and OU5 from the NPL.

    Dated: January 26, 2000.
Jerry Clifford,
Deputy Regional Administrator, EPA  Region 6.
[FR Doc. 00-2479 Filed 2-4-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P