[Federal Register Volume 68, Number 159 (Monday, August 18, 2003)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 49406-49409]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 03-20778]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-7544-5]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Celtor Chemical Works 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 Celtor Chemical Works Superfund Site 
(Site) located in Hoopa, 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, Hoopa Valley Tribe and the State of California, through 
the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), have 
determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been 
completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions 
under CERCLA.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site must be received by September 17, 
2003.

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

[[Page 49407]]

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.); Hoopa Valley Tribal EPA, P.O. Box 1348, Hwy 
96, Hoopa, CA 95546, (530) 625-5515.

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 Hector 
Aguirre, Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-3, 
75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3238 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 Celtor Chemical Works 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 Celtor 
Chemical Works 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.

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 and the Tribe, 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.
    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 this Site:
    (1) All remedial action has been implemented as is documented in 
the Final Close Out Report (FCOR), dated September 29, 1989.
    (2) The EPA consulted with the State of California and the Hoopa 
Valley Indian Tribe on the deletion of the Site from the NPL prior to 
developing this Notice of Intent to Delete.
    (3) The Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe concurred with deletion of the 
Site from the NPL.
    (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 in the local information repository 
and in the Region IX Superfund Records Center.

IV. Basis for Site Deletion

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

Background

    The Celtor Chemical Works Superfund Site is a 2.5 acre parcel of 
mountainous terrain located at the northern end of the Hoopa Valley 
Indian Reservation in Humboldt County California, about 2 miles north 
of the town of Hoopa. The property on which the Site is located is 
owned by the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe. The Tribe's land is held in 
trust by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The land use for the 
area surrounding the Site is rural residential. A cattle grazing 
pasture is located to the west of the former plant site. A gravel bar 
on the Trinity River at the northern end of the Site provides access to 
a popular recreational fishing site.
    In 1958, BIA leased the land to the Celtor Chemical Corporation on 
behalf of the Tribe. The Celtor Chemical Corporation processed sulfide 
ore taken from the Copper Bluff Mine. The plant, known as the Celtor 
Chemical Works Mill, is believed to have used dissolved air flotation 
to extract copper, zinc, and precious metals from the ore. The ore 
concentrates were trucked off-site for further processing. Some mine 
tailings were stockpiled in the area of the plant site; however, most 
of the tailings were presumably sluiced down a drainage ditch to the 
Trinity River. The tailings may have been the cause of the numerous 
fish kills for which the California Department of Fish and Game have 
cited the Celtor Chemical Corporation.
    In 1960 the Celtor Chemical Corporation became delinquent in its 
royalty payments to the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe. By 1962, Celtor 
ceased operations and in March 1993, the BIA, as trustee for the Tribe, 
canceled the leases of both the Copper Bluff Mine and the Celtor 
Chemical Works Mill.
    After milling operations ceased, a very large pile of tailings was 
reported to have been left standing on a sand and gravel bar between 
the drainage ditch and the Trinity River, along with the tailings that 
were known to have been

[[Page 49408]]

left at the plant site. Flooding in 1964 reportedly washed all traces 
of tailings that had been left on the sand and gravel bar into the 
Trinity River.
    Acid runoff from the Site continued to leach the remaining tailings 
in the plant area. Elevated levels of metals in Site soils were 
identified in samples collected by the California Department of Health 
Services in July 1981. In August of the same year, EPA received a 
Notification of a Hazardous Waste Site under the Comprehensive 
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA) 
from the State. The Site was placed on the California State Priority 
List in April 1982, then included on the National Priorities List (NPL) 
in September 1983.

Initial Response

    In December, 1983, EPA completed a Removal Action (also called the 
initial remedial measure) in which all visibly contaminated material 
(tailings, non-concrete structures, and a portion of the adjacent 
pasture) were removed. Approximately 1,400 cubic yards of contaminated 
material were taken to the IT Corporation Class I hazardous landfill in 
Benicia, California.

Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS)

    The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study was completed on June 
28, 1985, and a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by the Regional 
Administrator on September 30, 1985, which selected excavation and off-
site disposal of the remaining contaminated soils.

Remedy Selection

    The ROD for the Celtor Chemical Works Site was signed on September 
30, 1985. The primary human health threats posed at the Site were (1) 
direct contact with soils contaminated with arsenic, copper, cadmium 
and lead, and (2) consumption of surface water runoff from the Site or 
in the drainage ditch, which sometimes exceeded Maximum Contaminant 
Levels for copper, iron, lead and zinc. The remedial action objective 
was to prevent human exposure to soil and water contaminated with 
arsenic, copper, cadmium, zinc, mercury, selenium, cyanide and lead at 
concentrations that may pose a public health or environmental threat.
    The remedial actions of the 1985 ROD were: demolition and removal 
of structures, excavation of soils contaminated above action levels 
from all Site areas, import clean fill as necessary, regrade and 
vegetate the Site, and install security fencing to protect new 
vegetation. No groundwater treatment was necessary because the aquifer 
was not contaminated.
    Following signature, the ROD was amended twice. The first amendment 
corrected an error in the copper action level and the second amendment 
added additional standards for mercury, selenium, and cyanide in soils. 
The additional cleanup standards were added as precautionary measures; 
subsequent sampling showed all three metals to be below action levels.

Remedy Implementation

    In August 1986, EPA entered into an interagency agreement (IAG) 
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the remedial design. The 
Corps retained Aqua Resources, Inc. of Berkeley to plan the remedial 
action.
    The remedial design was completed by Aqua Resources, and approved 
by EPA on June 9, 1987. The design plan was divided into six areas 
designated A-F to be excavated to various depths. After excavation, 
soil samples were to be taken at designated grid points for all the 
contaminants of concern. It was estimated that 3,220 yards of soil and 
890 tons of concrete were to be removed and transported to the 
Envirosafe Services RCRA approved Class I Landfill in Grandview, Idaho. 
Environmental Health Research and Testing, Inc. (EHRT) was contracted 
to carry out the remedial action work. Shortly into the remediation, 
EHRT submitted a Value Engineering Change Proposal (VECP) to perform 
deeper and more thorough sampling to reduce the volume of soils 
excavated. This change was accepted and decreased the actual volume of 
soil excavated and transported to the Idaho Class I landfill to 1,163 
cubic yards. Another post-design change was in the sampling depth of 
the concrete.
    On December 9, 1987 the Site was closed down for the winter season, 
and activities resumed again on May 11, 1988. All backfilling and 
revegetation was completed on October 14, 1988, marking the beginning 
of a one year post-remedial maintenance period.
    At any location where contaminants were detected above action 
levels, additional soil was excavated and removed to the approved off-
site landfill. The removal of contaminated material and subsequent 
confirmatory sampling of remaining on-site soils ensured that all 
contamination was removed from the Site according to the guidelines set 
forth in the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP). On February 20, 
1989, the Corps sent the Final Technical Report to EPA describing all 
of the construction activities and the sampling data.

Operation and Maintenance

    The operation and maintenance (O&M) was performed for a one-year 
period by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. O&M efforts included 
monthly site visits to inspect for evidence of erosion and problems 
with revegetation, and maintenance of the perimeter fence.

Five-Year Review

    The initial Five Year Review conducted in 1993 found the Site to be 
in good condition, with a healthy cover of vegetation and no evidence 
of erosion. A wood-staked wire fence had been constructed around the 
pasture which had been remediated during the remedial action. The 1993 
review concluded that the Site required little or no maintenance. 
However, the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe subsequently raised concerns 
about residual contamination remaining at the Site. On September 20, 
1995, EPA collected 14 biased samples from the Site at the request of 
the Hoopa Tribe. Samples were collected from three distinct areas of 
the Site, including the former facility hillside, the access road 
leading down to the river, and the gravel bar between the drainage 
ditch and the Trinity River where it was reported a large pile of mine 
tailings had once stood before they were washed away by the 1964 flood. 
Of the 14 samples, 4 samples had levels of contaminants above the ROD 
clean-up goals.
    On April 22, 1996, EPA's Emergency Response Team performed 
additional, more extensive sampling at the Site to verify that the 
cleanup was complete. A total of 26 soil and sediment samples were 
collected and analyzed by screening with the x-ray fluorescence (XRF) 
spectrometer, and six soil samples were sent to a lab for confirmatory 
analysis. Soils were also analyzed for pH. Hillside soil samples from 
the former plant site contained minimal levels of copper, and traces of 
copper were also found in the river access road cut area and the 
drainage ditch but samples at both sites were well below action levels 
for the Site. No detectable contamination was found in samples 
collected from the borrow pit. However, analysis of samples collected 
from stained areas on the gravel bar indicated these sediments may have 
levels of copper, lead and arsenic in excess of the cleanup level.
    Since 1996 no stained sediments have been observed on the gravel 
bar by EPA or the Tribe. The gravel bar, hillside, and gully that 
connects the Site to the Trinity River were sampled in 2002. No 
Contaminants of Concern (COCs) were

[[Page 49409]]

found in concentrations above ROD cleanup goals.
    A Second Five-Year Review was conducted in August of 2001. The 
review concluded that the Site was not currently a threat to human 
health and the environment, but that additional data was needed to 
determine if the Site posed a future risk. The Review concluded that 
all items of concern would be resolved before delisting could occur.
    EPA, with support from the Tribal Environmental Protection Agency 
(TEPA), conducted a comprehensive unbiased sampling event on May 28, 
2003. EPA sampled the hillside, drainage ditch adjacent to the 
hillside, and gully that connects the Site to the Trinity River. A 
total of 38 soil samples were taken and 4 surface water samples were 
taken. The laboratory results from the sampling indicated that all 
sampled constituents are below the levels established in the ROD.
    These results have been reviewed by the Region IX EPA toxicologist 
who concurs that the Site has met soil action levels established in the 
ROD, and that the Site does not pose an unacceptable risk to human 
health or the environment from the COCs based upon EPA's current 
guidance.
    EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions for the 
COCs have been implemented, and the Site is available for unrestricted 
use. Therefore, no more Five-Year Reviews need to be conducted at the 
Site.

Community Involvement

    During the week of August 4, 2003, a fact sheet was mailed out to 
tribal members notifying them of EPAs intent to delete the site from 
the NPL. In addition to the fact sheet, an announcement for a community 
meeting was published in a local paper on August 5, 2003. The community 
meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2003. Members of the community will 
be invited to ask questions and make formal comments. The Deletion 
Docket which contains the documents EPA relied on for its 
recommendation to delete the Site from the NPL is available to the 
public in the information repositories.

Applicable Deletion Criteria/State Concurrence/Tribal Concurrence

    All the completion requirements for this Site have been met as 
described in the FCOR dated September 28, 1989. 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.''
    EPA, with the concurrence of the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe through 
the Tribal EPA on November 26, 2003 and the State of California through 
its Department of Toxic Substances Control on July 25, 2003, and finds 
that these criteria for deletion of the Site have been met. 
Consequently, EPA is proposing deletion of the Celtor Chemical Works 
Superfund Site from the NPL.

    Dated: August 7, 2003.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 03-20778 Filed 8-15-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P