[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 22, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 28093-28096]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12703]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-6965-2]
National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Direct final rule; deletion of the Gulf Coast Vacuum Services
Superfund Site from the National Priorities List.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 is
publishing a direct final rule of deletion of the Gulf Coast Vacuum
Services Superfund Site (Site), located in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana
from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, promulgated pursuant
to section 105, 42 U.S.C. 9605(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended,
is found at appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 of the National Oil and
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct
final rule of deletion is being published by the EPA with the
concurrence of the State of Louisiana, through the Louisiana Department
of Environmental Quality (LDEQ), because the EPA has determined that
all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed and,
therefore, further remedial action pursuant to CERCLA is not
appropriate.
DATES: This direct final rule of deletion will be effective July 23,
2001 unless the EPA receives adverse comments by June 21, 2001. If
adverse comments are received, the EPA will publish a timely withdrawal
of the direct final rule of deletion in the Federal Register informing
the public that the deletion will not take effect.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Ms. Beverly Negri, Community
Involvement Coordinator (6SF-PO), U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue,
Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-8157 or 1-800-533-3508.
Comprehensive information about the Site is available for viewing
and copying at the Site information repositories located at: U.S. EPA
Region 6 Library, Suite 12D13, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-
2733, (214) 665-6524, Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.;
Vermilion Parish Library, 200 North Magdalen Square, Abbeville,
Louisiana, 75011, (318) 893-2674, Monday and Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00
p.m., Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., and
Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; and Louisiana Department of
Environmental Quality, 7290 Bluebonnet Road, Baton Rouge, Louisiana
70809, (225) 765-0487, Monday through Friday 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mrs. Katrina Coltrain, Remedial
Project Manager (6SF-LP), U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas,
Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-8143 or 1-800-533-3508.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
I. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Site Deletion
V. Deletion Action
I. Introduction
EPA Region 6 is publishing this Direct Final Notice of Deletion of
the Gulf Coast Vacuum Services Superfund Site from the NPL.
The EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk
to public health 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
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial actions, if
conditions at a deleted site warrant such action.
Because the EPA considers this action to be noncontroversial and
routine, the EPA is taking it without prior publication of a notice of
intent to delete. This action will be effective July 23, 2001 unless
the EPA receives adverse comments by June 21, 2001 on this rule. If
adverse comments are received within the 30-day public comment period
on this rule, the EPA will publish a timely Withdrawal of this Direct
Final Rule of Deletion before the effective date of the deletion, and
said deletion will not take effect. The EPA
[[Page 28094]]
will, as appropriate, prepare a response to comments and continue with
the deletion process on the basis of the proposed Notice of Intent to
Delete and the comments already received. There will be no additional
opportunity to comment.
Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that the EPA is
using for this action. Section IV discusses the Gulf Coast Vacuum
Services Superfund Site and demonstrates how it meets the deletion
criteria. Section V discusses the EPA's action to delete the Site from
the NPL unless adverse comments are received during the public comment
period.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that releases may be deleted
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making a
determination to delete a release from the NPL, the 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;
ii. All appropriate Fund-financed (Hazardous Substance Superfund
Response Trust Fund) 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,
the 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 deleted 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 deleted 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, the EPA
may initiate remedial actions. Whenever there is a significant release
from a site deleted from the NPL, the deleted site may be restored to
the NPL without application of the hazard ranking system.
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures apply to deletion of the Site:
(1) The EPA consulted with the State of Louisiana on the deletion
of the Site from the NPL prior to developing this Direct Final Rule of
Deletion.
(2) The State of Louisiana concurred with deletion of the Site from
the NPL.
(3) Concurrently with the publication of this Direct Final rule of
Deletion, a parallel proposed Notice of Intent to Delete published
today in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of the Federal Register is
being published in a major local newspaper of general circulation at or
near the Site and is being distributed to appropriate federal, state,
and local government officials and other interested parties; the
newspaper notice announces the 30-day public comment period concerning
this action.
(4) The EPA placed copies of documents supporting the deletion in
the Site information repositories identified above.
(5) If adverse comments are received within the 30-day public
comment period, the EPA will publish a timely notice of Withdrawal of
this Direct Final rule of Deletion, before its effective date and will
prepare a response to comments and continue with the deletion process
on the basis of the proposed Notice of Intent to Delete and the
comments already received.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. Deletion of a site from
the NPL does not in any way alter the EPA's right to take enforcement
actions, as appropriate. The NPL is designed primarily for
informational purposes and to assist the EPA management. 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.
IV. Basis for Site Deletion
The following information provides the EPA's rationale for deleting
the Site from the NPL:
A. Site Location
The Site is located 3.5 miles southwest of the town of Abbeville in
Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, on Parish Road P-7-31, also called Junuis
Road. The Site occupies approximately 12.8 acres, and is bounded to the
north and west by pasture land and to the east and south by the D.L.
Mud Superfund Site and the LeBoeuf Canal. Areas adjacent to the Site
are used as pasture land for grazing cattle and for other agricultural
uses, predominantly rice, sugar-cane, and soybean crop raising. Ten
residences are located within \1/2\ mile of the Site on Parish Road P-
7-31 and Route 335, the nearest being on the southeast site boundary.
Because these homes are outside the corporate limits of Abbeville,
residents in the area rely on ground water for their drinking water and
for irrigation.
B. Site History
The Site was a vacuum truck and oilfield drilling mud plant
operation from approximately 1969 to 1980. During the period that the
facility was in operation, unpermitted disposal of contaminated organic
and inorganic materials, primarily oil industry-related waste, occurred
in several open pits. Gulf Coast Vacuum Services and its predecessors
used the property as a trucking terminal and disposal facility for
materials and wastes generated from oil and gas exploration and
production. Vacuum trucks were rinsed out in several on-site pits,
while unpermitted disposal of contaminated material and waste also
occurred. Primary hazardous substances at the Site were organic
compounds such as benzene, carcinogenic polyaromatic hydrocarbons
(PAHs), and metals such as arsenic and barium.
The EPA performed three Removal Actions at the Site prior to the
initiation of a Remedial Action (RA). The purpose of these Removal
Actions was to prevent contaminated rainwater, which accumulated on top
of the sludge pits, from overflowing onto adjacent agricultural fields.
These removals were conducted in March through April 1990, February
through March 1991, and in April 1992. During each Removal Action,
approximately 800,000 gallons of water were pumped, treated, and
discharged. In addition, during the 1990 and 1992 removal actions,
fencing around the pit areas was installed.
The EPA performed the Remedial Investigation (RI) of the Site from
November 1990 through March 1992. Various heavy metal and PAH
contaminants were detected at levels on-site that measured above
health-based standards.
In July 1992, the EPA released the RI Report and the Feasibility
Study (FS). The RI Report included all RI sampling results. The FS
provided an in-depth analysis of remedial alternatives, which included
on-site and off-site treatment alternatives such as incineration, on-
site and off-site containment alternatives such as disposal and
capping, and a ``no action'' alternative. The FS concluded that a ``no
action'' alternative at the Site could result in a potential health
threat to the public, through dermal contact with contaminated soils
and sludges, and a potential health threat to nearby residents, who
rely on ground water for their drinking water.
[[Page 28095]]
The EPA, in consultation with the LDEQ, signed two Records of
Decision (ROD) on September 30, 1992. The Operable Unit 2 (OU2),
Interim Source Control ROD, designed to address the short-term,
immediate exposure risks associated with rainwater overflow from the
pits, called for treatment of contaminated rainwater to LDEQ surface
discharge standards, the consolidation of the Washout Pit into the West
Pit, and the covering of the West Pit.
The September 1992 Operable Unit 1 (OU1), Final Source Action ROD,
selected on-site incineration to address the long-term environmental
and human health risks associated with the organic contaminants on-
site. The OU1 ROD also selected stabilization and solidification of
inorganic-contaminated soils and residuals of the organic treatment,
and monitoring of the ground water. The OU1 ROD was amended in May 1995
(``the Amended ROD'') to change the way in which the organic-
contaminated material was handled. Based on the OU1 ROD and the Amended
ROD, the Final Source Control remedy for the Site included: on-site
biological treatment of organic-contaminated pit sludges (surface and
buried), associated soils and tank contents; stabilization and on-site
disposal of the treated residuals from the bio-treatment as required to
meet performance standards for inorganic compounds, and capping with a
two (2) foot compacted clay cover; on-site stabilization and disposal
of the Site soils contaminated with metals (inorganics), and capping
with a two (2) foot compacted clay cover; and institutional controls,
such as deed notices and long-term monitoring of the ground water.
One additional performance standard was that the stabilized
material would have to pass Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure
(TCLP) requirements using a modified TCLP test (distilled water was
substituted for the specified acid) and that the leachate from the TCLP
test would also have to meet Clean Water Act Maximum Contaminant
Levels.
The OU2 RD Work Plan submitted by the PRP Group was approved by the
EPA on September 13, 1993. The OU1 RD Work Plan was approved by the EPA
on June 2, 1997. These Work Plans detailed the design criteria and the
steps that would be undertaken to achieve the goals of the Site RODs.
The OU2 ROD was implemented by a PRP group, consisting of 13 PRPs
who were directed to do the action through a December 11, 1992,
Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO). Implementation of the OU2
Remedial Action (RA) began on September 29, 1993. The OU2 RA work,
performed in accordance with the UAO Statement of Work and the OU2 RD
Work Plan, was completed on September 30, 1994. During the OU2 Interim
Action, approximately 2 million gallons of water were treated and
discharged, approximately 2,100 cubic yards of contaminated soil were
moved from the Washout Pit to the West Pit, and the West Pit was
covered with a synthetic cover. The OU2 remedial action was completed
on September 30, 1994, the date the EPA approved the OU2 Remedial
Action Certification Report.
On June 5, 1995, a Consent Decree (CD) between the EPA and a
fourteen-member PRP group was entered in Federal District Court. The
PRP group performed the OU1 activities under this CD and its
accompanying Statement of Work and the OU1 RD Work Plan. OU1 remedy
construction began on June 2, 1997. The PRPs conducted the following
remedial activities: on-site biological treatment of 31,617 cubic yards
of organic-contaminated pit sludges (surface and buried) and associated
soils and tank contents; stabilization and on-site disposal (in the
excavated West Pit and Washout Pit) of 21,347 cubic yards of Site soils
contaminated with metals (inorganics) and approximately 20,000 cubic
yards of biological treatment residuals; capping of the stabilized
material with a two (2) foot compacted clay cover and seeding of the
cover; fencing of the Site; implementation of deed notices; and ground
water monitoring.
Confirmatory samples were taken of all excavated areas of the Site
to ensure that all materials with concentrations of contaminants higher
than the health-based Remedial Action Goals (RAGs) had been removed. In
addition, performance samples were taken to ensure that the bio-
treatment residuals met the RAGs, to show that the stabilized Site
materials met the TCLP standard, and to show that the stabilized
material had the physical properties (such as strength) specified in
the RD work plan.
A pre-final inspection was conducted on February 19, 1999, and a
final inspection was conducted on March 11, 1999. The EPA determined
that the RA was complete during the final inspection, except for the
submittal of the RA report and the filing of deed notices. The PRP
group submitted the RA Report for OU1 to EPA on June 11, 1999. This
report was reviewed by the LDEQ and a representative of the Technical
Assistance Grant (TAG) group for the Site, and minor adjustments were
made. Institutional controls, in the form of restrictive covenants were
filed on September 29, 1999. The EPA approved the RA Report on October
4, 1999, and issued a Final Close Out Report on March 24, 2000.
C. Characterization of Risk
The following contaminants were detected in the various Site media
above health-based standards: Surface Soils--arsenic (2.3-56.7 mg/kg)
and barium (480-21,400 mg/kg); Sludges--carcinogenic PAHs (.09-7.5 mg/
kg), benzene (7-529 mg/kg); and Ground Water-barium (Non-detect (ND)--
5550 g/L), cadmium (ND-210 g/L), chromium (ND--2580
g/L), mercury (ND--4.6 g/L), and lead (ND--2580
g/L).
The RAGs specified in the OU1 ROD and the Amended ROD are: arsenic,
16 mg/kg; barium, 5,400 mg/kg, total carcinogenic PAHs, 3 mg/kg; total
non-carcinogenic PAHs, Hazard Index 1; previously unidentified
carcinogenic compounds of concern (COCs), residual risk 10-4--10-6
cumulative risk prior to stabilization and capping; and previously
unidentified non-carcinogenic compounds of concern, HI 1.
D. Future Activity
Site Operation & Maintenance (O&M) activities which will be
performed by the PRP Group include routine Site inspections to ensure
that the cap on the disposal cells remains intact and maintenance of
perimeter fencing. These activities are sufficient to maintain the
protectiveness of the remedy. The PRP group, as agreed upon in the CD
and accompanying Statement of Work and as detailed in the RA Work Plan
and the O&M Plan, has assumed all responsibility for O&M at the Site.
In addition, under the CD, the PRP Group shall perform ground water
monitoring during the O&M period. Plans for O&M are in place and are
sufficient to maintain the protectiveness of the remedy. The PRP Group
is fulfilling its obligation to perform the O&M. All institutional
controls are also in place, as the Site is fenced and a declaration of
restrictions was filed with Vermilion Parish on September 29, 1999,
restricting use of the Site ground water and limiting activities in the
capped disposal cells.
Because the implementation of the Site remedies resulted in
hazardous substances remaining on-site at concentration levels above
levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure (see
CERCLA section 121(c), 42 U.S.C. 9621(c), and 40 CFR
300.430(f)(4)(ii)), a review will be conducted at least every five
years after
[[Page 28096]]
commencement of the Remedial Action to assure that human health and the
environment are being protected by the response action. The five-year
reviews will be conducted pursuant to ``Comprehensive Five-Year Review
Guidance,'' OSWER Directive 9355.7-03B-P, Draft October 1999, or
whatever EPA guidance is current at the time of the review. All
response activities have been completed at the Site other than O&M and
five-year reviews.
E. Community Involvement
Public participation activities have been satisfied as required in
CERCLA section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and CERCLA section 117, 42
U.S.C. 9617. Documents in the deletion docket which the EPA relied on
for recommendation of the deletion from the NPL are available to the
public in the information repositories.
V. Deletion Action
The EPA, with concurrence of the State of Louisiana, has determined
that all appropriate responses under CERCLA have been completed, and
that no further response actions, under CERCLA, other than O&M and
five-year reviews, are necessary. Therefore, the EPA is deleting the
Site from the NPL.
Because the EPA considers this action to be noncontroversial and
routine, EPA is taking it without prior publication of a notice of
intent to delete. This action will be effective July 23, 2001 unless
EPA receives adverse comments by June 21, 2001. If adverse comments are
received within the 30-day public comment period on the proposal, the
EPA will publish a timely Withdrawal of this Direct Final rule of
Deletion before the effective date of the deletion, and it will not
take effect, and the EPA will prepare a response to comments and
continue with the deletion process on the basis of the proposed Notice
of Intent to Delete and the comments already received. There will be no
additional opportunity to comment.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Chemicals,
Hazardous waste, Hazardous substances, Penalties, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Water pollution control, Water
supply.
Dated: March 19, 2001.
Lynda F. Carroll,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. EPA, Region 6.
For the reasons set out in this document, 40 CFR part 300 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 under State of
Louisiana (``LA'') by removing the site name ``Gulf Coast Vacuum
Services'' and the city ``Abbeville, Louisiana.''
[FR Doc. 01-12703 Filed 5-21-01; 8:45 am]
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