[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 129 (Wednesday, July 5, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 41369-41371]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-16513]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-6727-2]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Direct final rule; deletion of the Laskin/Poplar Oil Company
Superfund Site from the National Priorities List; request for comments.
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SUMMARY: EPA Region 5 announces the deletion of the Laskin/Poplar Oil
Company 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 of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA is taking this action
because it has determined that the responsible parties have implemented
all responses under CERCLA; and EPA, in consultation with the State of
Ohio, has determined that no further response is appropriate. Moreover,
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: This `` direct final'' action will be effective September 5,
2000, unless EPA receives dissenting comments by August 4, 2000. If
written dissenting comments are received, EPA will publish a timely
withdrawal of the rule in the Federal Register informing the public
that the rule will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Gladys Beard, Associate Remedial
Project Manager, Superfund Division, U.S. EPA, Region 5 77 W. Jackson
Blvd. (SR-6J), Chicago, IL 60604. Comprehensive information on the site
is available at U.S. EPA's Region 5 office and at the local information
repository located at: The Ashtabula Public Library, 355 W. 44th St.,
Ashtablula, OH 44004. Requests for comprehensive copies of documents
should be directed formally to the Region 5 Docket Office. The address
and phone number for the Regional Docket Officer is Jan Pfundheller (H-
7J), U.S. EPA, Region 5, 77 W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604, (312)
353-5821.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Richard Boice, Remedial Project
Manager, at (312) 886-4740 (SR-6J), or Gladys Beard, Associate Remedial
Project Manager, Superfund Division (SR-6J), U.S. EPA, Region 5, 77 W.
Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 886-7253 or Susan Pastor (P-
19J), Office of Public Affairs, EPA, Region 5 77 W. Jackson Blvd.,
Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 353-1325; Mike Eberle, State Project Manager,
at Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, 2110 East Aurora Road,
Twinsburg, Ohio 44087-1969, (330) 963-1126; the Laskin Final
Remediation Trust Fund, Engineering Management, Inc., 1500 Ardmore
Blvd., Suite 502, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15221-4468, Attn: James R.
Campell, at (412) 244-0917.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
V. Action
I. Introduction
EPA Region 5 announces the deletion of the Laskin/Poplar Oil
Company Site from the National Priorities List (NPL), appendix B of the
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP),
40 CFR part 300. U.S. EPA identifies sites that appear to present a
significant risk to public health, welfare and the environment, and
maintains the NPL as the list of those sites. Sites on the NPL may be
the subject of remedial actions that the Hazardous Substance Superfund
Response Trust Fund (Fund) finances. Under 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.
EPA will accept comments on this proposal for thirty (30) days
after publication of this document in the Federal Register.
Section II of this action 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. Section V states
U.S. EPA's prospective action of deleting the Site from the NPL unless
dissenting comments are received during the comment period.
Deletion of sites from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. Specifically, this
deletion does not affect the provisions or requirements of the Consent
Decrees entered in United States v. Alvia Laskin, et al Civil Action
(84-2035Y N.D. Ohio) and United States v. Anchor Motor Freight Co., et
al, Civil Action No. (89CV1999 N. D. Ohio. 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
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that Sites 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 persons have implemented all
appropriate response actions required; or
(ii) All appropriate non-time critical Removal Actions or 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. The Laskin/Poplar Oil
Site now meets criterion (i). Criteria (ii) and (iii) are not relevant
to this Site.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures were followed before the proposed deletion
of this Site from the NPL:
(1) All appropriate response actions, under CERCLA have been
implemented and no further EPA action is appropriate; (2) The State of
Ohio has
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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 dissenting public
comment period on U.S. EPA's Direct Final Action to Delete; and, (4)
All relevant documents have been made available for public review in
the local Site information repositories. EPA is requesting only
dissenting comments on the Direct Final Action to Delete.
For deletion on the Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and
evaluate public comments on U.S. EPA's Final Notice. If necessary, the
Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary, responding to each
significant comment submitted during the public comment period. As
stated in section I above, deletion of the Site from the NPL does not
itself create, alter, or revoke any individual's rights of obligations.
The NPL is designed primarily for informational purposes and to assist
Agency management. Further, mentioned in section II of this document,
Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP states that the deletion of a release
from a site from the NPL does not preclude the Site's eligibility for
future response actions.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The Laskin/Poplar Oil Company Site is located at 717 North Poplar
Street in Ashtabula County, Jefferson Township, Ohio west of the
Village of Jefferson. The nine-acre site is bounded on the north by
Cemetery Creek, on the south by Ashtabula County Fairground, to the
east by Poplar Street, and to the west by softball fields and a wooded
ravine belonging to the County of Ashtabula.
Prior to remedial action implementation the Site contained the
property owner's former residence, a greenhouse complex, a boiler house
containing 4 boilers formerly used to heat the greenhouses, a
smokestack, 4 in-ground oil storage pits, 1 underground and 32 above
ground tanks, a retention pond, two drained ponds, a fresh water pond,
and miscellaneous buildings and sheds.
Greenhouses were located on the Site since the early 1890's. In the
1950's, boilers were installed to heat the greenhouse. Storage pits and
tanks were installed during the 1960's to store the oil that fired the
boilers. The Poplar Oil Company continued to accept waste oil from
hundreds of sources in northern Ohio and western Pennsylvania
throughout the 1960's and 1970's. The company resold some of the waste
oil and used additional waste oil to treat gravel and dirt roads in 17
townships of Ashtabula County. In 1977, U.S. EPA and Ohio Environmental
Protection Agency (OEPA) indentified polychlorinated biphenys (PCBs) in
the waste oil. In 1981, a court order stopped activities at the Poplar
Oil Company.
In early 1981, EPA investigated the Site and detected PCBs in waste
oils, ground water and soils. In 1981 and 1982, EPA performed several
removal actions at the Site. The emergency actions included draining
and regrading two ponds; diverting surface runoff to a retention pond
to prevent flooding; removing 302,000 gallons of waste oil taking them
to an off-site incinerator; treating and discharging off site 430,000
gallons of contaminated surface water; and solidifying on site 205,000
gallons of sludge.
In 1983, the Site was placed on the EPA's Superfund National
Priorities List of uncontrolled hazardous waste sites. Fund-lead Phase
I remedial investigation (RI) activities were conducted from December
1983 to November 1984. In response to an Administrative Order issued in
August 1984, the potentially responsible parties(PRPs) removed
approximately 250,000 gallons of waste oil and wastewater during the
winter of 1985-1986. A second Administrative Order was issued to the
PRPs in late 1986, which ordered them to develop a work plan to address
the storage pits, tank, and their contents, and surrounding soils. EPA
completed Focused Feasibility Study (FFS) in August 1987. The Source
Removal (SR) Record of Decision (ROD) was issued on September 30, 1987.
Phase II RI activities were conducted in the fall and winter of 1987-
88. A third Administrative Order was issued in February 1988 for
implementing the 1987 SR ROD. The Phase II RI Report which contained
the results of both the Phase I and II RI Investigations was released
in December 1988. The Final Remedy (FR) FS was provided for public
comment on April 7, 1989. A final remedy was selected on June 29, 1989
and documented in the FR ROD.
PRPs organized the Laskin Site Group and performed the SR and the
FR remedial design and remedial actions (RD/RA) under a September 1990
Consent Decree. The SR ROD work to be performed under the 1988
Administrative Order was incorporated into the 1990 Consent Decree. Due
to the incineration of different materials set forth in both RODs and
the need to prepare the Site for RA activities, some FR activities were
necessarily performed during the SR.
The SR ROD selected remedy consists of the following major
components:
Construction of a fence around the contaminated portions
of the Site and the mobile on-site incinerator;
Off-site treatment of all wastewater, decontamination
water, and scrubber water;
Dismantling and off-site disposal of all tanks;
Crushing and incineration of the cinder block walls of the
pits; and
Backfilling and/or grading of all excavated areas to
prevent ponding.
The components of the FR ROD consist of the following:
Drain retention and fresh water ponds. Discharge surface
water from ponds to Cemetery Creek, with treatment if required.
Backfill a freshwater pond with clean fill and grade retention pond
area;
Thermally treat contaminated soil, ash, and debris from
the boiler house area and dispose of ash on-site (if delistable) or
off-site to a RCRA permitted landfill;
Demolish and thermal treatment or decontamination of
dioxin contaminated structures. If material cannot be thermally treated
or decontaminate, contain material in an on-site concrete vault and
place beneath the cap;
Construct a groundwater diversion trench up-gradient of
the contaminated oil and groundwater;
Construct a multi-layer cap;
De-water site by natural groundwater flow to Cemetery
Creek;
Conduct groundwater and surface water monitoring to assess
quality of groundwater migrating towards Cemetery Creek; and
Impose access and use restrictions.
The ROD and statement of work for the Consent Decree included
performance standards for the FR including:
1. The on-site incinerator would meet a destruction and removal
efficiency at 99.99% for solvents, miscellaneous organics, 99.999%
dioxin and 99.999% for PCBS;
2. Discharges to the water in Cemetery Creek must comply with Ohio
Water Quality Standards, and Federal Ambient Water Quality Criteria;
3. The goal of the groundwater diversion was to dewater the site.
If the groundwater is lowered to below the top of the unweathered
shale, the site would be considered dewatered. If complete site
dewatering was not achieved then Federal Maximum Contaminant Levels,
under the Safe Drinking Water Act, would apply at the property
boundary.
In June 1991, the Remedial Design (RD) for the SR was finalized,
and in the
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Remedial Action (RA) work was formally initiated. U.S. EPA and Ohio
Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) conducted a prefinal inspection
on November 19, 1992. Incineration of all required material was
completed on November 25, 1992. EPA approved the RA report on December
22, 1992.
The FR RD was formally approved and the RA work initiated in March
1992. The FR included construction of a slurry wall to facilitate site
dewatering in addition to the diversion trenches provided for in the
ROD. A letter dated September 21, 1993 from the PRP Laskin/Poplar Site
Group certified that all RA activities were performed according to
design specifications, contractor plan, and EPA and OEPA approved
modifications. EPA conducted a final inspection on September 20, 1993,
and approved a Preliminary Close Out Report on September 23, 1993.
Since completion of construction, the Site has been monitored and
inspected in accordance with a EPA approved Inspection, Maintenance and
Monitoring Plan. In accordance with this plan, quarterly groundwater
and surface water monitoring was conducted in 1994, 1995, and 1996, and
semi-annual groundwater and surface water monitoring was conducted in
1997 and 1998.
A five-year review pursuant to OSWER Directive 9355.7-02
(``Structure and Components of Five-Year Reviews'') was conducted at
the Site and a report of its conclusions was signed in May 1999. The
five-year review report concluded that the remedial action selected for
this Site remains protective of human health and the environment. The
review determined that groundwater monitoring conducted over the five
years since completion of construction has demonstrated that the
groundwater has consistently been lowered below the unweathered shale,
and that the data has not identified an impact of the Site on
groundwater of surface water.
V. Action
In its review of the five year review report, Engineering
Management Inc., the Laskin Remedial Trust Fund's contractor correctly
pointed out that the non-incinerable materials that were potentially
dioxin-contaminated were decontaminated sampled, and found to contain
less the 1 ppb of dioxin. As a result, it was not necessary to store
any dioxin-contaminated material in a proposed vault below the cap, and
this part of the remedy was eliminated. A small amount of asbestos-
contaminated material was encased in what has been referred to as a
``concrete vault'' on site diagrams, but this vault is not the vault
referred to in the ROD. The five year review found that the Site
inspections have indentified a concern about slope stability, as well
as routine erosion problems. The on-going inspection and maintenance
program will address these problems. The next five year review should
be completed by October 15, 2000.
On June 30, 1999, EPA approved discontinuing the periodic
groundwater and surface water sampling. However, periodic water level
monitoring, inspections, and maintenance activities will continue, and
groundwater and surface water sampling can resume if necessary.
EPA, will the State of Ohio's concurrence, has determined that all
appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA at the Ladkin-Poplar
Oil Company Superfund Site have been completed, and no further CERCLA
response is appropriate or necessary in order to provide protection of
human health and the environment other than the ongoing inspection,
maintenance and monitoring activities. Therefore, EPA is deleting the
Site from the NPL.
This action will be effective September 5, 2000. However, if EPA
receives dissenting comments by August 4, 2000, EPA will publish a
document that withdraws this action.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Chemicals,
Hazardous substances, Hazardous Waste, Intergovernmental relations,
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Water
pollution control, Water supply.
Dated: June 14, 2000.
Gary Gulezian,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 5.
Part 300, Title 40 of Chapter 1 of the Code of Federal Regulations
is amended as follows:
PART 300--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 300 continues to read as
follows:
Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657; 33 U.S.C. 1321(c)(2); E.O.
12777, 56 FR 54757, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp.; p.351; E.O. 12580, 52 FR
2923, 3 CFR, 1987 Comp.; p.193.
Appendix B--[Amended]
2. Table 1 of Appendix B to Part 300 is amended by removing the
entry for ``Laskin-Poplar Oil Co'', Jefferson Township, Ohio.
[FR Doc. 00-16513 Filed 7-3-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U