[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 52 (Wednesday, March 17, 2004)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 12606-12608]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-5874]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-7619-5]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Niagara County Refuse Superfund 
Site from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 2, announces 
its intent to delete the Niagara County Refuse Superfund Site (Site) 
from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on 
this action.
    The Niagara County Refuse Superfund Site is located in the Town of 
Wheatfield, Niagara County, New York. The NPL is appendix B of the 
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 
40 CFR part 300, which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the 
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act 
of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA and New York State, through the 
Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) have determined that 
all appropriate response actions have been implemented and no further 
response actions, other than operation, maintenance, and monitoring, 
are required. In addition, EPA and the NYSDEC have determined that the 
Site is protective of public health, welfare, and the environment.

DATES: EPA will accept comments concerning its intent to delete on or 
before April 16, 2004.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted to: Michael J. Negrelli, 
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 
2, 290 Broadway, 20th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866.
    Comprehensive information on the Site is available for viewing, by 
appointment only, at: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 2, 
Superfund Records Center, 290 Broadway, Room 1828, New York, New York 
10007-1866, (212) 637-4308, Hours: Monday through Friday: 9 a.m. 
through 5 p.m.
    Information on the Site is also available for viewing at the Site 
Administrative Record Repository located at: North Tonawanda Public 
Library, 505 Meadow Road, North Tonawanda, New York 14120, Tel. (716)

[[Page 12607]]

693-4132, Hours: Monday through Thursday: 9:30 a.m. through 9 p.m., 
Friday and Saturday 9:30 a.m. through 5 p.m.
    Site information is also available for viewing at the following 
location: U.S. EPA Public Information Office, 345 Third Street, Suite 
530, Niagara Falls, New York 14303, Tel. (716) 285-8842, Hours: Monday 
through Friday: 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Negrelli at the address provided 
above, by telephone at (212) 637-4278, by electronic mail at 
[email protected], or by FAX at (212) 637-4284.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    EPA, Region 2, announces its intent to delete the Niagara County 
Refuse Superfund Site (Site) from the National Priorities List (NPL) 
and requests public comment on this action. EPA maintains the NPL as 
the list of sites that appear to present a significant risk to public 
health, welfare, or the environment. Sites on the NPL may be the 
subject of remedial actions financed by the Hazardous Substances 
Superfund Response Trust Fund (Fund). As described in Sec.  
300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from the NPL remains 
eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions, if conditions at the site 
warrant such action.
    EPA will accept comments concerning the deletion of the Site from 
the NPL 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 the EPA is 
using for this action. Section IV discusses how the Site meets the NPL 
deletion criteria.

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 this 
determination, EPA, in consultation with the State, shall consider 
whether any of the following criteria has been met:

    (i) Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented, and no further response action by responsible parties is 
appropriate; or,
    (iii) A remedial investigation has shown that the release poses no 
significant threat to public health or to the environment and, 
therefore, taking remedial measures is not appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures apply to the deletion of this Site:
    1. EPA, Region 2, issued a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Site on 
September 24, 1993, which selected the remedy for the Site.
    2. Responsible parties implemented the remedy selected in the ROD 
as described in a Final Close Out Report dated August 14, 2003.
    3. EPA, Region 2, recommends deletion and has prepared the relevant 
documents.
    4. The State of New York, through the NYSDEC, concurred with the 
proposed deletion of the Site in a letter dated September 29, 2003.
    5. A notice has been published in a local newspaper, and in 
addition, a notice has been distributed to appropriate Federal, State 
and local officials, and other interested parties announcing a 30-day 
public comment period which starts on the date of publication of this 
notice in the Federal Register and a newspaper of record.
    6. The EPA has made available the relevant documents to this 
decision at the addresses listed above.
    7. Upon completion of the thirty (30) day public comment period, 
EPA will evaluate all comments received before issuing a final decision 
on deletion. The EPA, Region 2, will prepare a Responsiveness Summary, 
if appropriate, which will address significant comments received during 
the public comment period. The Responsiveness Summary will be made 
available to the public at the information repositories.
    If, after consideration of the comments it receives, EPA decides to 
proceed with the deletion, EPA will place a Notice of Deletion in the 
Federal Register. Deletion does not occur until the final Notice of 
Deletion is published in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will 
reflect deletions in the next final update following the final notice 
publication.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following summary provides a brief description and history of 
the Niagara County Refuse Superfund Site and provides the Agency's 
rationale for recommending deletion of the Site from the NPL.
    The Niagara County Refuse site is a former municipal landfill, 
comprised of approximately 65 acres, located along the eastern border 
of the Town of Wheatfield, New York and the western border of the City 
of North Tonawanda. The southern edge of the Site lies approximately 
500 feet north of the Niagara River.
    During the landfill's operational period (1968-1976), the Niagara 
County Refuse Disposal District (NCRDD) accepted municipal refuse and 
industrial wastes, which are commingled throughout the landfill. More 
than 100 waste generators or transporters are thought to have used the 
Site. Disposed materials included heat-treatment salts, plating-tank 
sludge, tetrachloroethylene, PVC skins and emulsion, thiazole polymer 
blends, polyvinyl alcohol, phenolic resins, and brine sludge containing 
mercury.
    Beginning in 1980, the Site became the focus of several 
investigations by EPA, NYSDEC, and the United States Geological Survey 
(USGS) resulting in the Site being placed on the National Priorities 
List (NPL) in September 1983.
    In March 1989, a group of fourteen potentially responsible parties 
(PRPs) entered into an administrative consent order with EPA to perform 
a Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS). In February 1995, a 
group of twelve PRPs entered into a judicial consent decree with the 
United States on behalf of EPA to conduct the remedial design, remedial 
construction, operation, maintenance, and monitoring for the Site. EPA 
signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Site on September 24, 1993, 
selecting the remedy for the Site as follows:

--Construction of a New York State Part 360 Standard Landfill Cap;
--Construction of a clay perimeter barrier wall;
--Construction of a gas venting system beneath the cap;
--Construction of a leachate collection system;
--Removal of the field tile drains located to the west of the landfill;
--Performance of an ecological assessment of the adjacent wetlands;
--Implementation of deed and access restrictions;
--Implementation of a long-term operation & maintenance program for the 
cap, and gas venting and leachate collection systems; and
--Implementation of long-term air and water quality monitoring.

    On-site construction at the Site commenced in November 1998, 
continuing unabated through the next two construction seasons and in

[[Page 12608]]

September 2000, EPA conducted a final inspection with NYSDEC and the 
PRPs. In December 2000, EPA issued its approval of the Remedial Action 
Report. The ecological assessment recognized that there were valuable 
wetlands and uplands located on the Site. A restoration plan was 
developed and implemented to account for the wetland losses incurred by 
the capping, and 0.17 acres of wetland were created as part of the work 
done at the Site. The success of the restoration effort is described in 
the Site Annual Monitoring Reports. Additionally, institutional 
controls, consisting of recording the Consent Decree and placing 
restrictive covenants on the real property at the Site, have been 
implemented by Niagara County and the Town of Wheatfield.
    An Operation, Maintenance, and Monitoring (OM&M) Manual was 
developed and implemented. Financial assurance for OM&M activities has 
been provided by the PRPs in the form of demand notes as required by 
the Consent Decree. Annual reports are provided to EPA and NYSDEC and 
both EPA and NYSDEC believe that the reports for 2001 and 2002 confirm 
that the remedy for the Site has been successfully implemented.
    The Site has been cleaned and environmentally valuable lands 
restored. The Site no longer poses an unacceptable risk to human health 
or the environment. However, hazardous substances remain at the Site 
above levels that would allow for unlimited use with unrestricted 
exposure. Pursuant to section 121(c) of CERCLA, EPA and/or the State 
will review site remedies no less often than every five years. The EPA, 
Region 2, conducted a Five-Year Review of the Site in November 2003. 
The Five-Year Review concluded that the contamination at the Niagara 
County Refuse site is under control and there is no exposure to human 
or environmental receptors from Site-related contaminants due to 
permanent measures in place at the Site.
    Public participation activities for this Site have been satisfied 
as required in CERCLA section 113(k), 42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and section 
117, 42 U.S.C. 9617. The ROD was subject to a public review process. 
All other documents and information which EPA relied on or considered 
in recommending this deletion are available for the public to review at 
the information respositories.
    One of the three criteria for site deletion is when ``responsible 
parties or other persons have implemented all appropriate response 
actions required'' (40 CFR 300.425(e)(1)(i)). EPA, with the concurrence 
of the State of New York, through the NYSDEC, believes that this 
criterion for deletion has been met. Subsequently, EPA is proposing 
deletion of this Site from the NPL.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

    Environmental protection, Chemicals, Hazardous substances, 
Hazardous waste, Intergovernmental relations, Penalties, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Water pollution control, Water 
Supply.

    Dated: December 24, 2003.
Kathleen Callahan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 2.
[FR Doc. 04-5874 Filed 3-16-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P