[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 167 (Monday, August 28, 2000)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 52040-52042]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-21373]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6854-1]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Direct final deletion of the General Tire Landfill Site from 
the National Priorities List (NPL).

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SUMMARY: EPA Region 4 announces the deletion of the General Tire 
Landfill Site (site) from the NPL and requests public comment on this 
action. The NPL constitutes appendix B to Part 300 of the National and 
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), which EPA 
promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response,

[[Page 52041]]

Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) as amended. The EPA 
has determined that the site poses no significant threat to public 
health or the environment, as defined by CERCLA, and therefore, no 
further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA is warranted.

DATES: This ``direct final'' action will be effective on October 27, 
2000, unless EPA receives significant adverse or critical comments by 
September 28, 2000. If adverse comments are received, EPA will publish 
a timely withdrawal of the direct final rule in the Federal Register 
informing the public that the rule will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Nestor Young, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-8812, [email protected]. 
Comprehensive information on this site is available through the public 
docket which is available for viewing at the site information 
repositories at the following locations: U.S. EPA Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, GA 30303; and the Graves County Library, 601 
North 17 Street, Mayfield, Kentucky 42066, (270) 247-2911.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Nestor Young, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth 
Street, SW., Atlanta, GA 30303, (404) 562-8812, Fax (404) 562-8788, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis of Intended Site Deletion
V. Action

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency Region 4 announces the deletion 
of the General Tire Landfill Superfund Site, Mayfield, Graves County, 
Kentucky, from the National Priorities List (NPL), Appendix B of the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 
40 CFR part 300. 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 these sites. EPA has determined that 
the site does not pose an imminent and substantial endangerment to the 
public health and welfare, and the environment. EPA will accept public 
comments for thirty days after publication of this notice in the 
Federal Register.
    Section II of this notice describes the criteria for deleting sites 
from the NPL. Section III discusses the history of the General Tire 
Site and explains how the site meets the deletion criteria. Section V 
states EPA's action to delete the site from the NPL unless dissenting 
comments are received during the comment period.

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 has been met:
    (i) Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response action required;
    (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 shown that the release poses 
no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.
    In the case of the General Tire Site, EPA's remedial investigation 
and subsequent follow up groundwater studies conducted under state 
supervision, indicated that the site does not pose a significant threat 
to public health or the environment, and, therefore, active remedial 
measures are not appropriate. If new information becomes available 
which indicates a need for future action, EPA may initiate any remedial 
action necessary. In accordance with the NCP (40 CFR 300.425 (e)(3)), 
whenever there is a significant release from a site deleted from the 
NPL, the site shall be restored to the NPL without application of the 
Hazard Ranking System (HRS).

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the 
site: (1) All appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented 
and no further action by EPA is appropriate; (2) the Commonwealth of 
Kentucky has 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 public 
comment period on EPA's Direct Final Deletion; and, (4) all relevant 
documents have been made available for public review in the local site 
information repository. EPA is requesting only dissenting comments on 
the proposed action to delete.
    For deletion of the release from the site, EPA's Regional Office 
will accept and evaluate public comments on EPA's Final Notice before 
making a final decision to delete. If necessary, EPA will prepare a 
Responsiveness Summary, responding to each significant comment 
submitted during the public comment period. If no dissenting comments 
are received, no further activities will be implemented and this 
``direct final'' action will become effective. Deletion of the 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 EPA management. As mentioned in Section II of 
this document, Sec. 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.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following site summary provides EPA's rationale for the 
proposal to delete the General Tire Site from the NPL.
    The General Tire Landfill is located east of State Highway 45, 
approximately two miles north of Mayfield, in Graves County, Kentucky. 
The landfill is situated adjacent to the General Tire manufacturing 
plant, between the Paducah/Louisville Railroad and Mayfield Creek.
    The General Tire Plant started operation in the early 1960s and 
currently continues to operate. Throughout its operational history, the 
plant manufactured automobile, truck and tractor tires. The process 
requires large quantities of cooling water that is supplied by six 
water wells located next to the plant. These wells supply approximately 
10 million gallons per day of water for use in the manufacturing 
process.
    In 1970, the General Tire Plant received approval from the 
Commonwealth of Kentucky Department for Environmental Protection 
(KYDEP) for construction and operation of a landfill at the Mayfield 
site. Wastes from the plant, consisting of hazardous and non-hazardous 
wastes, were buried in a series of trenches approximately 1,300 feet 
long, 40 feet wide and 30 feet deep. The trenches were oriented in a 
north-south direction over an approximate 58 acre area. Some of the 
plant wastes placed in the landfill

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included carbon black, scrap rubber and tires, scrap hydraulic oil, 
lubricating oil, floor sweepings, rejected product material, trash, 
wood, paper packaging, and cements containing solvents.
    In 1979, ``hazardous wastes'' defined by the Resource Conservation 
and Recovery Act were no longer disposed of in the landfill. However, 
General Tire continued to dispose of ``non-hazardous'' wastes from the 
plant until late 1984, under a permit issued by the KYDEP. KYDEP 
approved a closure plan for the landfill in 1985. The plan consisted of 
covering the trenches with two feet of clean soil, and monitoring the 
groundwater for a two year period after construction of the cover was 
properly completed. The landfill was covered and seeded in the fall of 
1985.
    After completing a preliminary assessment and site investigation, 
EPA proposed the landfill for inclusion on the National Priorities List 
(NPL) in June 1988. In February 1990, the site was added to the NPL.
    In December 1989, General Tire and EPA entered into an 
Administrative Order by Consent for performance of a Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). The RI/FS was started in 
October 1990 and completed in May 1993.
    After careful evaluation of all the exposure routes, estimated 
carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic health risks, and ecological impacts, 
EPA concluded that the landfill does not pose an unacceptable risk to 
the environment or to human health and welfare.
    Operation of the plant wells has significantly limited the 
migration and potential human and environmental exposure to any 
contaminants that may have been released from the landfill into the 
groundwater. Since migration of contaminants through the groundwater is 
the primary mechanism by which the landfill can impact human health or 
the environment, EPA believes that the plant wells have provided a 
significant level of protection by capturing those contaminants 
released into the groundwater. The landfill does not pose a threat to 
human health or the environment provided the plant wells continue to 
operate. However, based on known characteristics of the aquifer, EPA is 
concerned that environmental conditions at the site may become worse if 
General Tire's plant wells cease operating. Consequently, an evaluation 
of the groundwater will be necessary in the future to determine the 
landfill's impact on the shallow aquifer without the influence of the 
plant wells. EPA deferred this site to the Commonwealth of Kentucky, 
Department for Environmental Protection for continued monitoring of the 
site and future evaluation of the groundwater upon shut down of the 
General Tire plant wells.
    Based on the data collected in the Remedial Investigation and the 
health risks estimated in the Baseline Risk Assessment, EPA selected a 
no-further-action remedy in the Record of Decision issued on October 1, 
1993.
    The KYDEP did not concur with EPA's remedy selection, or subsequent 
request for NPL deletion. In the years following the ROD, KYDEP 
conducted a follow-up groundwater study which did not show any 
significant worsening conditions in the groundwater. Currently, KYDEP 
continues to monitor groundwater at the site through a groundwater 
monitoring plan performed by Continental General Tire Inc (the 
potentially responsible party). Based on the additional groundwater 
data collected, EPA requested KYDEP to reconsider its position on NPL 
deletion. On April 27, 2000, KYDEP agreed that the NPL listing could be 
removed.

V. Action

    The Environmental Protection Agency and the Kentucky Department for 
Environmental Protection agrees that no further CERCLA action is 
necessary and that the site does not pose a threat to human health and 
the environment. KYDEP will continue to monitor the groundwater, and in 
the event of a significant future release of contamination that may 
impact human health or the environment, EPA may initiate appropriate 
CERCLA actions in accordance with the NCP.

VI. State Concurrence

    The Commonwealth of Kentucky, in a letter dated April 27, 2000, 
concurs with EPA that the criteria for deletion of the NPL listing have 
been met. Therefore, EPA is deleting the General Tire Landfill site 
from the NPL, effective on October 27, 2000. However, if EPA receives 
dissenting comments by September 28, 2000, EPA will publish a document 
that withdraws this action.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

    Environmental protection, Chemicals, Hazardous substances, 
Hazardous wastes, Intergovernmental relations, Penalties, Superfund, 
Water pollution control, Water supply.

    Dated: August 9, 2000.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, 
EPA Region 4.
    Part 300, title 40 of chapter I 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: 33 U.S.C. 1321(c)(2); 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657; 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 
site for ``General Tire & Rubber (Mayfield Landfill) Mayfield, 
Kentucky''.
[FR Doc. 00-21373 Filed 8-25-00; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U