[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 149 (Wednesday, August 2, 2000)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 47363-47366]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-19537]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6844-1]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Newsom Brothers Superfund Site 
from

[[Page 47364]]

the National Priorities List (NPL): Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces 
the intent to delete the Newsom Brothers Superfund Site from the 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 of 1980 (CERCLA). EPA and the 
State of Mississippi (State) have determined that all appropriate 
CERCLA actions have been implemented and that no further cleanup by 
responsible parties is appropriate under CERCLA. 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: Comments concerning the proposed deletion of this Site will be 
accepted until September 1, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Carolyn B. Thompson, Remedial 
Project Manager, South Site Management Branch, Waste Management 
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, S.W., Atlanta, GA 30303.
    Comprehensive information on this Site, as well as information 
specific to this proposed deletion, is available through the EPA Region 
4 public docket and at the Site information repository. The Regional 
Docket Center is located at EPA's Region 4 office and is available for 
viewing by appointment only from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding holidays. Requests for appointments or copies of the 
background information from the regional public docket should be 
directed to the EPA Region 4 Docket Office.
    The address for the Regional Docket Office is: Ms. Debbie Jourdan, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, 
S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303, Telephone No.: (404) 562-8862.
    The regional public docket is also available for viewing at the 
Site information repository located at the following address: South 
Mississippi Regional Library, 900 Broad Street, Columbia, Mississippi 
39429.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carolyn B. Thompson, Remedial Project 
Manager, South Site Management Branch, Waste Management Division, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W., 
Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-8913; Michael T. Slack, P.E., CERCLA 
Division, Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, Office of 
Pollution Control, 101 West Capitol Street, Jackson, MS 39201, (601) 
961-5217.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:   

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 
announces its intent to delete the Newsom Brothers/Reichhold Chemicals 
Superfund Site (the Site), in Columbia, Marion County, Mississippi from 
the National Priorities List (NPL), which constitutes Appendix B of the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). 
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. EPA and the State of Mississippi have determined 
that the remedial action for this site has been successfully 
implemented.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for 
thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the Federal 
Register.
    Section II of this document explains the criteria for the deletion 
of 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

    The NCP establishes the criteria that the EPA uses to delete sites 
from the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), releases may be 
deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making this determination, 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 response under CERCLA has 
been implemented, and no further response action by responsible 
parties is appropriate; or
    (iii) The remedial investigation has determined that the release 
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.

    Pursuant to 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from 
the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed Remedial Actions in the 
event that conditions at the site warrant such action. 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, EPA's policy is that a subsequent review 
of the site will be conducted at least every five years after the 
initiation of the remedial action at the site to ensure that the site 
remains protective of public health and the environment. In the case of 
this site, no waste sources remain at the site. Thus, a five year 
review will not be required in the future.
    If new information becomes available which indicates a need for 
further action, EPA may initiate further response actions. Whenever 
there is a significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the 
site may be restored to the NPL without the application of the Hazard 
Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this Site:
    (1) The Site was listed on the NPL in 1986. Records of Decision 
were signed for Operable Unit One (OU1) on September 18, 1989, and for 
Operable Unit 2 (OU2) on August 8, 1997. All appropriate response 
actions under CERCLA have been implemented and no further action by EPA 
is appropriate. The site history is discussed in detail in Section IV.
    (2) The Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality 
(Mississippi DEQ) concurs 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 on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete.
    (4) All relevant documents have been made available for public 
review in the local Site information repository.
    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter, or 
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designated 
primarily for information purposes and to assist EPA management. As 
mentioned in Section II of this document, 40 CFR 300.425 (e)(3) states 
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for 
future Fund-financed response actions.
    Comments from the local community may be the most pertinent to 
deletion decisions. EPA will accept and evaluate

[[Page 47365]]

public comments before making a final decision to delete. EPA will 
prepare a Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address any 
comments received during the public comment period.
    A deletion occurs after the EPA Region 4 Regional Administrator 
places a notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will 
reflect any deletions in the final update following the Notice of 
Deletion. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness Summary will 
be made available to local residents by EPA Region 4.

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 Location

    The Newsom Brothers Site (Site) is located in Columbia, Marion 
County, Mississippi. The 81-acre Site is surrounded by residential 
neighborhoods which, in some cases, are located directly adjacent to 
the Site boundaries. There are numerous businesses located along High 
School Avenue which borders the western boundary of the Site. The Site 
is completely fenced and access to the Site is restricted.

B. Site History

    The Site was used for industrial and commercial activities for over 
50 years. From the early 1930s until 1943, J.J. White Lumber Company 
operated a sawmill on the Site. The Southern Naval Stores Company, 
Limited, concurrently ran an operation, called Naval Stores, on various 
parcels of the Site, from 1936 to 1951. Naval Stores produced wood 
derivatives such as resin, turpentine, pine oil, and tall oil. The 
ownership and operation of Naval Stores changed several times between 
1936 and 1951, but the plant consistently produced the same wood-
derived products. From the 1950s until 1965, the Site was owned and 
operated by Leach Brothers, Incorporated. Reasor Chemical Corporation 
owned the Site from 1965 to 1972, and Chem-Pro International Inc. owned 
it from 1972 to 1974.
    Southern Naval Stores Company, Reasor Chemical Corporation, and 
Chem-Pro International ran similar production processes. These 
processes involved grinding pine stumps and digesting them with a 
boiling liquor of sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfite. The products 
were tall oils, which are 35 to 40 percent resin and 50 to 60 percent 
fatty acids. Turpentine was also extracted from the pine stumps using 
naphtha. In addition, Reasor Chemical Corporation specifically 
manufactured calcium and zinc resinates, polymerized resin, and rubber 
resins.
    In January 1975, Reichhold Chemicals, Inc., (Reichhold) purchased 
the property. Reichhold's operation included mixing pentachlorophenol 
(PCP) with diesel oil. In other operations, boron trifluoride was mixed 
with phenol and di-isobutylene to form octal phenol resin. Xylenes were 
also used in a number of processes.
    Reichhold continued operations at the property until March 1977, 
when an explosion and fire in one of the boiler units destroyed most of 
the processing facility. No operations were conducted at the Site from 
1977 to 1980.
    In 1980 and 1981, ownership of the 81-acre Site transferred to R.R. 
Newsom, Sr. and R.R. Newsom, Jr. (owners of New-Cros Construction 
Company) and Mr. William Earl Stogner (owner of Stogner Trucking 
Company). The Newsoms' owned 49 acres of the original 81 acres and Mr. 
Stogner owned the remaining 32 acres. Both Stogner and the Newsoms had 
buildings on the property from which they operated their respective 
trucking and construction businesses. In November 1988, Reichhold 
regained complete ownership of the Site in connection with resolution 
of legal proceedings brought by Mr. Stogner and the Newsoms.
    EPA performed two emergency removal actions at the Site in 1984 and 
1987. The 1984 action involved the removal of over 600 55-gallon drums 
and the draining of two onsite ponds. EPA filled the South Pond with 
clay and graded it. The North Pond was allowed to refill with rainwater 
and was investigated further during subsequent remedial investigations. 
EPA performed a second removal action in 1987 involving the removal of 
approximately 1,920 tons of contaminated soil and 3,900 empty and 
partially filled drums.
    EPA conducted the Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/
FS) on OU1 and signed the ROD in September 1989. On July 25, 1990, the 
U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi entered a 
consent decree between EPA and Reichhold, R.R. Newsom, Jr., and R.R. 
Newsom, Sr., for the performance of the Remedial Design and Remedial 
Action (RD/RA) associated with OU1 at the Site. On October 20, 1994, an 
amendment to the OU1 consent decree was entered by the Court to include 
the RI/FS associated with OU2.

C. Remedial Investigations and Actions

    The Site was listed on the NPL in 1986, and the initial ROD was 
signed on September 18, 1989 (1989 ROD). A detailed history of the Site 
is presented in the Phase I and Phase II Remedial Investigation (RI) 
Reports dated September 21, 1987, and November 8, 1988, respectively. 
The Feasibility Study (FS) was completed in December of 1988.
    In addition to the drummed materials mentioned previously, soils, 
sediments and groundwater were found to be impacted at the site. A wide 
variety of inorganic and organic constituents were found in these 
different media. Organic compounds detected in soils included toluene, 
ethyl benzene, phenol, pentachlorophenol and xylenes; the major 
inorganic chemicals detected were barium, chromium, copper, nickel and 
vanadium. In sediments, the major constituents included copper, 
phenols, ethyl benzene and xylenes. No contaminant groundwater plume 
could be identified, but detections of benzene, ethyl benzene, 1,1,1-
trichloroethane, phthalates, and other organics were identified. 
Various inorganic metals were also detected above background.
    The list of constituents of concern (COCs) determined by the 
investigation included benzene, ethyl benzene, xylenes, various 
carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbon compounds (PAHs) and 
pentachlorophenol. Cleanup goals for soil and sediment were selected 
based upon an increased potential cancer risk of 10-6. 
Applicable or Relevant and Appropriate Requirements (ARARs) were 
utilized to develop Groundwater Protection Standards (GWPS) as cleanup 
criteria for groundwater. The establishment of the GWPS was based upon 
the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) in the form of Maximum Contaminant 
Levels (MCLs) and Maximum Contaminant Level Goals (MCLGs). In cases 
where an MCL or MCLG had not been established, Federal Ambient Water 
Quality Criteria (AWQC) adjusted for drinking water, were used to 
establish the GWPS. Due to the sporadic detections and low 
concentration of the contaminants, groundwater remediation was not 
required by the 1989 ROD.
    Remedial activities specified in the 1989 ROD included removal of 
asbestos-containing material; removal of above ground and underground 
storage tanks; drainage of on-site ponds; excavation and off-site 
disposal of contaminated pond sediments, contaminated soils and black 
tar-like waste; actions to prevent erosion; and groundwater monitoring. 
This work was performed by Reichhold pursuant to the consent decree. 
Substantial completion of remedial activities under the 1989 ROD was 
achieved for all areas in September 1993. A 5-year Operation and

[[Page 47366]]

Maintenance (O&M) period followed and included the groundwater 
monitoring activities described below and maintenance of the 1989 ROD 
remedy.
    In the final stages of remedial activities under the 1989 ROD, 
contamination not previously identified was discovered in the North 
Pond area, located in the northeast corner of the Site adjacent to the 
Site boundary near Chinaberry Street. However, residual soil and drums 
which were found during the North Pond excavation contained different 
contaminants than those which were cited for disposal in the 1989 ROD. 
This material was stockpiled for further analysis. Due to the 
excavation of these materials, it was suspected that contamination 
extending below the bottom of the pond into the groundwater existed. In 
order to address the stockpiled excavated materials and the potential 
for groundwater contamination at the North Pond, EPA designated this 
area as a separate unit, OU2. The remedial activities covered under the 
1989 ROD were thereinafter referred to as OU1 activities.
    The RI for OU2 was completed in February of 1995. Since the 
contaminated soils and materials had already been removed (with the 
exception of the stockpiled materials from the North Pond, which were 
disposed off-site in October 1995), the primary focus of the OU2 RI was 
to determine the extent of the groundwater contamination at the Site. 
As described in the OU2 ROD, no discernable groundwater plume of 
contamination could be identified and detections of COCs were sporadic. 
The OU2 ROD, signed on August 8, 1997, specified that no remedial 
action was necessary for OU2. However, to ensure that possible 
groundwater contaminants did not pose a future threat to the off-site 
residents, the OU2 ROD specified a 3-year period of groundwater 
monitoring.

D. Groundwater Monitoring Network

    In accordance with the OU1 Post Remedial Groundwater Monitoring 
Plan and the OU2 Revised Groundwater Monitoring Program, Reichhold has 
been conducting groundwater monitoring on selected OU1 monitoring wells 
since May 1994. The five-year OU1 monitoring was performed quarterly 
during the first year and semi-annually for the subsequent four years 
of the required 5-year O&M period. The OU2 wells have been monitored 
since May 1997 on a quarterly basis during the first year and on a 
semi-annual basis during the subsequent two years. The list of COCs 
included in these monitoring events remained constant throughout the 
groundwater monitoring program for both OU1 and OU2. A current analysis 
of the ARARs indicates that the GWPS established in the ROD are still 
consistent with the NCP. The last required monitoring event for OU1 
took place in November 1998 and for OU2 in December 1999.
    The results of the groundwater monitoring are thoroughly discussed 
in the Final Summary Report, April 2000, prepared by Malcolm, Pirnie, 
Inc., for Reichhold. The results of the groundwater monitoring program 
do not indicate the presence of any COCs in concentrations exceeding 
GWPS or ROD performance standards.

E. Characterization of Risk

    As discussed in the OU2 ROD, the soil exposure pathway was 
eliminated when the stockpiled soils were removed from the site in 
1995. The only remaining pathway was the potential effects caused by 
uncontrolled groundwater migration to off-site residential wells 
located down gradient from the site. However, this exposure pathway is 
incomplete because there are no receptors. The site is wholly owned by 
Reichhold and its access is restricted. All on-site water is supplied 
by the City of Columbia water system. No municipal or private drinking 
water wells are located offsite in the direction of the groundwater 
migration from the site. As described, above, the groundwater 
monitoring performed does not indicate the presence of any COCs in 
concentrations exceeding GWPS or ROD performance standards. Therefore, 
the groundwater does not pose a current or future threat to off-site 
residents.

F. Community Involvement

    This site has always been of interest to the surrounding 
communities. EPA has been directly involved with the community since 
the NPL listing in 1986. Several community groups have formed to 
represent concerned citizens over the years. The most recent group is 
the Jesus People Against Pollution (JPAP), which formed in 1992. JPAP 
has been an active participant ever since and currently is the only 
active group around the site. JPAP was awarded the Technical Assistance 
Grant (TAG) for the Site.

G. Applicable Deletion Criteria

    EPA must demonstrate that any of the three criteria for deletion 
described in Section II are satisfied. EPA, with concurrence from the 
Mississippi DEQ, believes that the responsible party, Reichhold, has 
implemented all appropriate response actions required for OU1 and OU2. 
Furthermore, with concurrence of the Mississippi DEQ, EPA has 
determined that all appropriate responses under CERCLA have been 
completed, and that no further action is necessary. The State of 
Mississippi concurred with the proposal to delete this site from the 
NPL, in a letter dated June 8, 2000, from Charles H. Chisholm, 
Mississippi DEQ, to Mario E. Villamarzo, Jr., EPA.
    Therefore, EPA proposes to delete the Site from the NPL and 
requests public comments on the proposed deletion. Documents supporting 
this action are available in the site information repository and from 
the regional public docket.

    Dated: July 21, 2000.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 4.
[FR Doc. 00-19537 Filed 8-1-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U