[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 153 (Thursday, August 8, 2002)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 51528-51530]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-20099]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-7257-2]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Del Norte County Pesticide 
Storage Area Superfund Site from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IX is issuing 
a Notice of Intent to Delete the Del Norte County Pesticide Storage 
Area Superfund Site (Site) located in Crescent City, California, from 
the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this 
Notice of Intent to Delete. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 
105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended, is found at appendix B of 
40 CFR part 300, which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances 
Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the State of California, 
through the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), 
have determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA, 
other than Operation and Maintenance and Five-Year Reviews, have been 
completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions 
under CERCLA.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site must be received by September 9, 
2002.

ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to: Beatriz Bofill, 
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-7-2, 75 Hawthorne 
Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3260 or (800) 231-3075.
    Information Repositories: Comprehensive information on this Site is 
available through the Region IX public docket which is available for 
viewing at the EPA Region IX Superfund Records Center, 95 Hawthorne 
Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 536-2000 (Monday through 
Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Crescent City Library, 190 Price Mall, 
Crescent City, CA 95531, (707) 464-9793 (Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and 
Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Wednesday 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. 
to 2 p.m., Sunday closed).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beatriz Bofill, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-7-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San 
Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3260 or (800) 231-3075; or Viola 
Cooper, Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-3, 
75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3243 or 
(800) 231-3075.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The U.S. EPA Region IX is publishing this Notice of Intent to 
Delete the Del Norte County Pesticide Storage Area 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, which EPA 
promulgated pursuant to section 105 of CERCLA, as amended. The 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. As described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites 
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial action in the 
unlikely event that conditions at the site warrant such action.
    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 deleting 
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is 
following specifically for this Site. Section IV discusses the Del 
Norte County Pesticide Storage Area Superfund Site and demonstrates how 
it meets the deletion criteria.
    Deletion of a 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.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that sites may be deleted 
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making a 
determination to delete a site from the NPL, EPA, in consultation with 
the State, shall consider 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 (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.
    CERCLA section 101(25) defines response as removal and remedial 
actions, and does not include operation and maintenance activities. 
Accordingly, a site may be deleted from the NPL where only operation 
and maintenance activities remain. 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 (40 CFR 300.425(e)(3)).

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures apply to deletion of the Site:
    (1) A ROD Amendment documents the technical infeasibility of 
reaching the Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) for 1,2-dichloropropane 
(1,2-DCP).
    (2) All remedial action has been implemented as is documented in 
the

[[Page 51529]]

Final Close Out Report (FCOR), dated July 19, 2002.
    (3) The EPA consulted with the State of California on the deletion 
of the Site from the NPL prior to developing this Notice of Intent to 
Delete.
    (4) The State of California concurred with deletion of the Site 
from the NPL.
    (5) 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.
    (6) The EPA placed copies of documents supporting the deletion in 
the Site information repositories identified above.
    For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and 
evaluate public comments before making a final decision to delete. If 
comments are received, EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to 
address those comments. The Responsiveness Summary will be available 
for review in the Deletion Docket. The Deletion Docket is a compilation 
of documents containing all pertinent information supporting the 
deletion recommendation.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect 
deletions in the final update following the notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local 
residents by the Regional Office.

IV. Basis for Site Deletion

    The following information provides EPA's rationale for deleting the 
Site from the NPL:

Site Location

    The Del Norte County Pesticide Storage Area Site, located 
approximately one mile northwest of Crescent City, California, consists 
of less than one acre of land which had been contaminated with a 
variety of herbicides, pesticides, and other compounds. The Site is 
located in a rural area immediately south of McNamara Field, the 
airport that serves Del Norte County. The property is zoned 
manufacturing performance.
    In December 1969, the Del Norte County Sanitarian notified the 
North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board (NCRWQCB) of the 
County's intent to operate a pesticide container storage area. During 
1970, the Site was designated by the NCRWQCB as a Class II-2 disposal 
site to serve as a County-wide collection point for interim or 
emergency storage of pesticide containers generated by local 
agricultural and forestry-related industries.
    The pesticide container storage area operated from 1970-1981. Soil 
and groundwater contamination was discovered in the fall of 1981, 
indicating that the pesticide containers had been rinsed on-site, and 
that the residues and rinseates were improperly disposed of in a 
bermed, unlined sump area. In 1982, approximately 1,150 containers were 
removed from the Site. Preliminary investigations from 1981-1983, by 
NCRWQCB and California Department of Health Services, identified soil 
and groundwater contamination with herbicides, pesticides and volatile 
and semivolatile compounds. Del Norte County's inability to fund 
further Site investigations initiated the process of listing the Site 
on the NPL in the fall of 1983.

Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS)

    EPA produced a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) 
Final Report on September 13, 1985. The RI/FS established that 
operations at the storage area resulted in contamination of soil and 
groundwater with herbicides, pesticides, volatile and semi-volatile 
compounds. Because the contamination had reached the groundwater, use 
of the contaminated groundwater as a water supply would result in a 
significant health risk. One Contaminant of Concern (COC), 1,2-DCP, had 
migrated downgradient of the storage area to a distance of about 150 to 
300 feet in the southeasterly direction from the sump area. There was 
no spread of soil contamination due to wind or runoff detected beyond 
the storage area boundaries. There was also widespread detection of 
chromium in soil and groundwater, both on- and off-site, which required 
further investigation to determine whether it was the highly toxic 
hexavalent form or whether it was trivalent chromium, which is much 
less toxic.

Response Actions

    EPA's September 30, 1985 Record of Decision (ROD) selected a Site 
remedy of excavation and off-site disposal of contaminated soils as 
well as extraction and treatment of the contaminated groundwater. The 
selected groundwater remedy consisted of: (1) Carbon adsorption for 
removal of organics and pesticides and (2) coagulation and sand 
filtration for removal of chromium. The ROD utilized the drinking water 
MCL of 100 micrograms/Liter (g/L) as the groundwater cleanup 
goal for 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D), and 50 parts per 
billion as the groundwater cleanup goal for Chromium. No MCL had been 
set for 1,2-DCP at that time, so a health-based advisory level of 
10g/L was chosen as the cleanup goal for 1,2-DCP. EPA 
continued to monitor the contaminants and conditions at the Site.
    In August 1987, EPA used removal authorities to perform a Removal 
Action in which 290 cubic yards of contaminated soils were excavated 
and disposed of off-site at a licensed hazardous waste disposal 
facility. This action removed the contaminated soils in the sump area, 
thereby eliminating the source of additional incremental groundwater 
contamination.
    An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) dated September 21, 
1989 clarified that the chromium found at the Site was in fact 
trivalent chromium, not the significantly more toxic hexavalent form. 
Furthermore, data collected at the Site led to the conclusion that 
chromium levels were consistent with naturally occurring background 
levels. Therefore, it was determined that treatment of chromium in 
groundwater was not necessary and the ESD removed the chromium cleanup 
standard from the Site remedy.
    Additionally, levels of 2,4-D were only detected above the MCL in 
two samples during the RI/FS, Remedial Design and Removal phases of the 
project. By 1989, 2,4-D was detected in only one well at a 
concentration of 20g/L, supporting the conclusion that the 
cleanup criteria had been met. As a result, a 1998 ESD changed the 
original remedy of carbon filtration, coagulation, and sand filtration 
to aeration, which had not been selected in the 1989 ROD due to its 
ineffective removal of 2,4-D and chromium. The only COC remaining to be 
remediated was the presence of 1,2-DCP in the groundwater.
    A pump and treatment system began extracting groundwater from one 
extraction well at the rate of 15 gallons per minute, and operated 
continuously from April 1990 to December 1994. After 1994, 1,2-DCP 
concentrations in the groundwater monitoring wells reached asymptotic 
levels ranging between 15g/L and 40g/L. In 1994, EPA 
installed an air sparging system to determine if the injection of air 
into the aquifer would enhance contaminant removal. No discernable 
changes in the levels of 1,2-DCP in groundwater were noted. The plume 
is stable and is not migrating vertically or laterally.

Cleanup Standards

    Because treatment was no longer reducing the contaminant levels, an 
August 2000 ROD Amendment modified

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the remedy to containment of the groundwater plume. In 1992, a MCL of 
5g/L was established, for 1,2-DCP. This MCL is an Applicable 
or Relevant and Appropriate Requirement (ARAR) for the groundwater 
cleanup at the Site. However, given the conclusions reached about the 
status of the 1,2-DCP plume, EPA's 2000 ROD Amendment concluded that 
the 5,000 foot plume was not migrating and that it was technically 
impracticable to restore the 1,2-DCP plume to the 5g/L MCL. 
The 2000 ROD Amendment therefore waived this ARAR on the basis of 
Technical Impracticability.

Operation and Maintenance

    On March 6, 2002, a Consent Decree (CD) was entered among EPA, DTSC 
and Del Norte County, which provides that Del Norte County will 
continue to provide monitoring at the Site with oversight by DTSC. 
Semiannual groundwater monitoring will be ongoing at the Site until 
levels of 1,2-DCP have dropped below the MCL and EPA makes a 
determination that monitoring is no longer necessary. Sampling 
methodology and protocol can be found in the Del Norte County Pesticide 
Storage Area Superfund Site Groundwater Monitoring Plan, dated June 6, 
2001.
    Institutional controls were established in the 2000 ROD Amendment 
and will be implemented through the CD. Controls for the Site include: 
(1) Restricting access to the Site to protect existing groundwater 
monitoring wells and to prevent use of contaminated groundwater; (2) 
Prohibiting use of contaminated groundwater; (3) Prohibiting the use of 
the Site (which is currently zoned for industrial purposes) for 
residences, hospitals for humans, public or private schools for persons 
under 21 years of age, or for day care centers for children; (4) 
Restricting the use of the Site to industrial/commercial purposes that 
do not interfere with the containment and monitoring of the 
contaminated groundwater, and that do not damage, alter, destroy, or 
compromise the integrity of the existing groundwater monitoring wells 
at the Site; (5) Prohibiting the installation and/or pumping of water-
producing wells, including but not limited to water supply, irrigation 
and private wells on the Site; and (6) Prohibiting the installation and 
operation of any groundwater extraction wells in the area extending one 
mile from the boundary of the Site that would cause the plume of 
contaminated groundwater under the Site to move or that would cause 
contaminated groundwater under the Site to be brought to the surface. 
For any proposed groundwater extraction wells within the one mile area 
described above all, necessary information must be provided to the lead 
agency to demonstrate that the restrictions are met.

Five-Year Review

    Because contaminants remain at the Site above the MCL, Five-Year 
Reviews are required by statute. A Five-Year Review was completed at 
the Site on December 27, 2000, and found the remedy to be protective of 
human health and the environment. Five-Year Reviews will continue to be 
conducted at this Site until contaminant levels are below cleanup 
levels. The next Five-Year Review will be completed by December 27, 
2005.

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 EPA relied on for 
recommendation of the deletion from the NPL are available to the public 
in the information repositories.

Applicable Deletion Criteria/State Concurrence

    All the completion requirements for this Site have been met as 
described in the FCOR dated July 19, 2002. The NPL provides that a site 
is eligible for deletion where ``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,'' and where ``responsible parties 
or other parties have implemented all appropriate response actions 
required.'' The FCOR documents that Site monitoring and institutional 
controls have been implemented and ensure the protectiveness of the 
remedy. Site monitoring will continue, conducted under the supervision 
of DTSC, until levels of 1,2-DCP reach below the MCL.
    EPA, with the concurrence of the State of California through its 
Department of Toxic Substances Control on July 22, 2002, finds that 
these criteria for deletion of the Site have been met. Consequently, 
EPA is proposing deletion of the Del Norte County Pesticide Storage 
Area Superfund Site from the NPL.

    Dated: July 26, 2002.
Keith Takata,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 02-20099 Filed 8-7-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P