[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 99 (Tuesday, May 22, 2001)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 28096-28099]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12705]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6956-2]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Direct final deletion of the Cleveland Mill Superfund Site from 
the National Priorities List.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 is 
publishing a direct final deletion of the Cleveland Mill Superfund Site 
(the ``Site''), located in Grant County, New Mexico, from the National 
Priorities List (NPL).
    The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 
1980, as amended, is appendix B of 40 CFR part 300, which is the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). 
This direct final deletion is being published by EPA with the 
concurrence of the State of New Mexico, through the New Mexico 
Environment Department (NMED) because EPA has determined that all 
appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed at the 
Site and, therefore, further remedial action pursuant to CERCLA is not 
appropriate.

DATES: This direct final deletion will be effective July 23, 2001 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by June 21, 2001. If adverse 
comments are received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the 
direct final 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.
    Information Repositories: Comprehensive information about the Site 
is available for viewing and copying at the Site information 
repositories located at: U.S. EPA Region 6 Library, 12th Floor, 1445 
Ross Avenue, Suite 12D13, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-6424, 
Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; Silver City Public 
Library, 5151 West College Avenue, Silver City, New Mexico 88061, (505) 
538-3672, Monday and Thursday 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Tuesday and 
Wednesday 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Friday 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., and 
Saturday 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.; New Mexico Environment Department 
Library, 1190 St. Francis Drive, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87502, (505) 827-
2844, Monday through Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Kathleen Aisling, Remedial Project 
Manager (6SF-LT), U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 
75202-2733, (214) 665-8509 or 1-800-533-3508.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. 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 Cleveland Mill 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 the NCP at 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3), sites 
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial actions if conditions 
at a deleted site warrant such action.
    Because 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 on this document. If 
adverse comments are received within the 30-day public comment period 
on this deletion, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of this direct 
final deletion before the effective date of the deletion and the 
deletion will not take effect. EPA will, as appropriate, prepare a 
response to comments and continue with the deletion process on the 
basis of

[[Page 28097]]

the 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 EPA is using 
for this action. Section IV discusses the Cleveland Mill Superfund Site 
and demonstrates how it meets the deletion criteria. Section V 
discusses 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, 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, 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 NMED on the deletion of the Site from 
the NPL prior to developing this direct final deletion.
    (2) The NMED concurred with deletion of the Site from the NPL.
    (3) Concurrently with the publication of this direct final 
deletion, a notice of the availability of the parallel 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 the notice of intent to delete the Site from 
the NPL.
    (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 on this document, EPA will publish a timely notice of 
withdrawal of this direct final deletion before its effective date and 
will prepare a response to comments and continue with the deletion 
process on the basis of the 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 EPA's right to take enforcement 
actions, as appropriate. The NPL is designed primarily for 
informational purposes and to assist 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 EPA's rationale for deleting the 
Site from the NPL:

A. Site Location

    The Site is located in Grant County, in southwestern New Mexico, 
approximately 5.5 miles northeast of Silver City, New Mexico. The Site 
includes approximately 4 acres in mountainous terrain and 14 acres 
which extend down a drainage area into the streambed of Little Walnut 
Creek. The surrounding property is located in a rapidly developing 
residential area that is adjacent to the Gila National Forest and 
private lands. The population within a 3-mile radius of the Site is 
estimated to be 1,200.

B. Site History

    The Site is a former ore processing mill area adjacent to the 
Cleveland Mine. The Cleveland Mine, located approximately 0.5 mile 
northeast of the mill area, is one of the Cleveland Group of Mines 
located in the West Pinos Altos Mining District. The first of the 
Cleveland Mining claims was staked in the early 1900s and included a 
milling operation at the Site. The milling operation employed a gravity 
separator until 1916, and a flotation process from 1916 until at least 
1919. Approximately 125,000 tons of lead, zinc, and copper ore were 
produced from the Cleveland Mine during the period from about 1900 
until 1919. After this time, the site was leased for mining and 
grazing. The tailings from the milling operations were deposited at the 
headwaters of the Little Walnut Creek and both the soil and the surface 
water were contaminated with Site-related hazardous substances.
    The Site was proposed for inclusion on the NPL on June 24, 1988, 
and inclusion was finalized on March 31, 1989, pursuant to section 105 
of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. 9605, identifying the Site as a priority for long-
term remedial evaluation and response.
Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS)
    From August 1990 through March 1992, NMED, under an agreement with 
EPA, conducted a Remedial Investigation (RI) at the Cleveland Mill 
Superfund Site to determine the nature and extent of the problem 
presented by the release of hazardous substances, pollutants or 
contaminants at the Site. Hazardous substances were detected in soil 
and other surface materials at the site at concentration levels that 
exceed health-based standards: arsenic ranged from 4.1 to 3,020 
milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg); beryllium ranged from 0.25 to 12.8 mg/
kg; cadmium ranged from 0.15 to 376 mg/kg; lead ranged from 5.8 to 
13,500 mg/kg; and zinc ranged from 57.3 to 122,000 mg/kg. The NMED also 
conducted a Feasibility Study (FS) on the Site, under an agreement with 
EPA. The primary objective of the FS, completed in March 1993, was to 
ensure that appropriate remedial alternatives were developed and 
evaluated such that relevant information concerning the remedial action 
options could be presented to a decision-maker (in this case the EPA 
Region 6 Regional Administrator) and an appropriate remedy selected.
    On April 9, 1993, the EPA released the RI and FS Reports. The RI 
concluded that if no action was taken at the Site, there would be a 
threat to human health because Site visitors may be exposed to 
dangerous concentrations of hazardous substances in tailings, sediment, 
and surface water at the Site. Moreover, there was a potential for the

[[Page 28098]]

wells of nearby residents to become contaminated. These residents rely 
on ground water for drinking.
Record of Decision Findings
    On September 24, 1993, after consideration of public comments, the 
EPA, with the concurrence of the NMED, issued a Record of Decision 
(ROD) memorializing its selection of a remedy to address the 
contamination at the Site. The remedy was chosen in accordance with 
CERCLA and the NCP. The ROD was based on the administrative record for 
the Site. The overall Site remedy, as described in the 1993 ROD, called 
for excavation of the contaminated mill waste material, transportation 
of the waste material to a reprocessor for treatment, and disposal of 
the treatment residuals at the reprocessing facility in an area where 
other tailings and residuals from ore-processing were disposed. The 
remedy in the 1993 ROD did not include a remedy for the shallow on-site 
aquifer because the EPA believed that the contamination would attenuate 
once the source (i.e., the contaminated waste material) was removed. 
Therefore, the 1993 ROD included ground water monitoring, to ensure 
that the contamination did not worsen or spread to nearby residential 
wells prior to the excavation and removal of the source of the 
contamination, and to verify that the ground water quality improved 
once the source was removed.
Removal Action
    In a June 1995, Consent Decree (CD), the participating companies 
agreed to implement the remedy specified in the 1993 ROD. However, the 
1993 ROD remedy was not implemented because the search for an 
acceptable off-site disposal facility was ultimately unsuccessful, and 
because, during the search, unanticipated and powerful rainfall events 
caused hazardous substances from the Site to migrate in contaminated 
runoff. This unanticipated contaminant migration posed an immediate 
increased risk to human health and the environment.
    On July 11, 1997, to address the immediate risk, the EPA, with the 
concurrence of the NMED, issued an Action Memorandum that authorized a 
time-critical removal action to physically address the Site 
contamination and to restore affected surface areas at the Site. The 
participating companies agreed to implement this removal action through 
an EPA Administrative Order on Consent (AOC) which became effective on 
September 23, 1997. As described below, the removal action included the 
excavation of the contaminated material, and the placement of that 
material in an on-Site containment cell. The field activities required 
by the AOC were completed on November 19, 1998, the date on which the 
seeds of native plants were sown on the last area of the Site in order 
to provide vegetative cover. Completion of the final AOC requirement 
occurred on December 10, 1998, the date the participating companies 
submitted the Removal Action Final Report which was accepted by EPA.
Cleanup Activities Performed
    The cleanup activities at the Site were conducted from September 
1997 through December 1998 during the time-critical removal action. The 
time-critical removal action included:
     Excavation of 164,960 cubic yards of contaminated tailings 
and sediment from the mine area, the mill area, and the streambed;
     Neutralization of the acidic excavated material through 
admixing with limestone;
     Disposal of the neutralized material in a limestone cell 
constructed at the Site;
     Covering of the cell with a multi-layered cap,
     Construction of erosion control measures such as terraces; 
and
     Reseeding of the disturbed areas of the Site and the 
disposal cell cap.

C. Characterization of Risk

    Contaminated materials were removed from Site soils and sediments 
until concentrations of contaminants remaining on the Site met the 
health-based remediation goals specified in the 1993 ROD (these goals 
were referred to as ``Remedial Action Goals'' in the ROD) and 
incorporated into the Action Memorandum as soil and sediment ``cleanup 
levels.'' Cleanup levels for soil and sediment included: arsenic, 30 
milligrams per kilogram in soil (mg/kg); beryllium, 4 mg/kg; cadmium, 
140 mg/kg; lead, 500 mg/kg; and zinc, 82,000 mg/kg. At the conclusion 
of the time-critical removal action, confirmatory samples were taken at 
all excavated areas of the Site to verify that all soils (including 
tailings) and sediment with concentrations of contaminants higher than 
the cleanup levels (i.e., the remediation goals established in the ROD) 
had been removed.
    The environmental threat at the Site was addressed through this 
time-critical removal. As part of this removal, the waste material in 
the mill area and in the stream was excavated, the waste material was 
treated with limestone to neutralize its acidity, the treated material 
was disposed of in a limestone cell constructed at the Site, and the 
cell was covered by a multi-layered cap.
    The EPA issued an Amended ROD for the Site on September 20, 1999, 
stating that no further response action was necessary; however, as 
explained in the Amended ROD, the continuation of ground water and 
surface water monitoring, operation and maintenance (O&M) of the 
constructed remedy, and implementation of the existing institutional 
controls will continue. The O&M activities include inspections to 
ensure that erosion does not compromise the remedy and to ensure that 
the revegetation efforts are successful. Institutional controls include 
restrictive covenants warning against the use of ground water and 
advising future owners about the risks of disturbing the cover and/or 
the underlying material.
    The original selected remedy, the time-critical removal action and 
the remedy selected in the Amended ROD (collectively the ``Site 
remedies'') are protective of public health and the environment, comply 
with federal and state requirements that are legally applicable or 
relevant and appropriate to the remedial action, and are cost 
effective. The Site remedies utilized permanent solutions to the 
maximum extent practicable for this Site. This Site meets all the 
completion requirements as specified in ``Close Out Procedures for 
National Priorities List Sites,'' OSWER Directive 9320.2-09A-P (2000), 
and in the June 16, 2000, Site Close Out Report prepared by the EPA 
Region 6 Superfund Division.

D. Future Activity

    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 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 commencement of the remedial 
action (which, at this Site for the purposes of the five-year review 
only, is considered to be the start of the time-critical removal 
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 ``Structure and Components of Five-Year 
Reviews,'' OSWER Directive 9355.7-02 (May 23, 1991) and ``Supplemental 
Five-Year Review Guidance,'' OSWER Directive 9355.7-02A (July 26, 1994) 
or other EPA guidance current at the time of the review. All response 
activities have

[[Page 28099]]

been completed at the Site other than O&M and five-year reviews.

E. Community Involvement

    Public participation activities have been satisfied as required by 
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 EPA relied on for 
its decision to delete the Site from the NPL are available to the 
public at the information repositories.

V. Deletion Action

    The EPA, with concurrence of the NMED, has determined that 
responsible parties have implemented all appropriate response actions 
required at the Site and that no further response actions, under 
CERCLA, other than O&M and five-year reviews, are necessary. Therefore, 
EPA is deleting the Site from the NPL.
    Because 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, EPA will publish a 
timely withdrawal of this direct final deletion before the effective 
date of the deletion and it will not take effect and EPA will prepare a 
response to comments and continue with the deletion process on the 
basis of the 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, Intergovernmental relations, 
Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Water 
pollution control, Water supply.

    Dated: January 22, 2001.
Jerry Clifford,
Deputy Regional Administrator, 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 by removing the 
site for Cleveland Mill, Silver City, NM.

[FR Doc. 01-12705 Filed 5-21-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P