[Federal Register Volume 69, Number 189 (Thursday, September 30, 2004)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 58322-58323]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 04-21806]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-7821-8]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Final rule; Notice of deletion of the Love Canal Superfund site 
from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 
II Office announces the deletion of the Love Canal Superfund site (Love 
Canal site) from the National Priorities List (NPL). The Love Canal 
site is located in the City of Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York. 
The NPL constitutes appendix B to 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 the State of New York, through the Department of 
Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC), have determined that all 
appropriate response actions have been

[[Page 58323]]

implemented at the Love Canal site and that no further response 
actions, other than operation, maintenance, and monitoring, are 
required. In addition, EPA and NYSDEC have determined that the remedial 
action taken at the Love Canal site is protective of public health and 
the environment and that the operation, monitoring, and maintenance of 
such remedial action will confirm that it continues to be protective of 
public health and the environment.
    Even though the Love Canal site will be deleted from the NPL, these 
ongoing monitoring activities will ensure NYSDEC and EPA involvement 
during the annual monitoring of the Love Canal site conditions, as well 
as the annual review of existing institutional controls.

DATES: Effective, September 30, 2004.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Damian J. Duda, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region II, 290 Broadway, 
20th Floor, New York, New York 10007-1866, (212) 637-4269.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: To be deleted from the NPL is: the Love 
Canal Superfund site, City of Niagara Falls, Niagara County, New York. 
A Notice of Intent to Delete for the Love Canal site was published in 
the Federal Register on March 17, 2004. The closing date for comments 
on the Notice of Intent to Delete was April 16, 2004.
    EPA received comments, including the two major comments discussed 
below, on the proposed deletion and addressed these comments in a 
Responsiveness Summary. Several commenters expressed concern that the 
wastes that were originally disposed of in the Love Canal landfill have 
not been removed. The containment, leachate collection, and treatment 
and monitoring remedy at the Site was selected consistent with the 
requirements of the Federal Superfund law. Excavation and removal of 
hazardous materials from landfills can potentially create more 
contaminant exposure to human health and the environment than a 
containment remedy. Moreover the large volumes of contaminated soils 
from an excavated landfill must be treated and redisposed of at other 
secure hazardous waste facilities, requiring either utilization of 
limited existing landfill capacity or the creation of new landfills to 
accommodate the excavated waste from old landfills. The excavated 
landfill requires filling with clean backfill materials and still must 
be subject to engineering controls due to residual contamination that 
could not practicably be removed. For these reasons, EPA developed a 
presumptive remedy for large landfills consisting of containment 
through capping and leachate collection and treatment. The Love Canal 
site remedy is a permanent remedy that is consistent with the 
requirements of the Superfund law. Several commenters were also 
concerned that the deletion of the Love Canal site from the NPL would 
imply that EPA will not have any further involvement at the Love Canal 
site and that, if there were to be a need for further Superfund 
response at the Love Canal site, such a response could not be provided 
since the Love Canal site would no longer be on the NPL. EPA confirmed 
in the Responsiveness Summary that its responsibility for the Love 
Canal site does not cease after the deletion from the NPL.
    The NCP (40 CFR 300.425 (e)) states that a site that is deleted 
from the NPL is eligible for further fund-financed remedial actions 
should future conditions warrant such action. A Superfund site can be 
deleted from the NPL when one of the following criteria, as identified 
in the NCP (40 CFR 300.425(e)), is met. These criteria are as follows: 
(1) Responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate 
response actions required; (2) all appropriate Fund-financed response 
under CERCLA has been implemented and no further response action by 
responsible parties is appropriate; or, (3) the remedial investigation 
has shown that the release poses no significant threat to human health 
or the environment, and therefore, taking remedial measures is not 
appropriate. In the case of the Love Canal site, the first two criteria 
have been met. The third criterion is not applicable, since remedial 
measures were taken.
    All of the comments received and EPA's responses are contained in 
the Responsiveness Summary, a copy of which is available at the EPA 
Public Information Office, Niagara Falls, New York at (716) 285-8842. 
The Responsiveness Summary is also available in the Administrative 
Record File, located in the EPA Regional Office.
    As part of EPA's policy for Superfund sites where the remedy will 
result in substances remaining on-site above health-based levels that 
would allow for unrestricted use or unlimited exposure, EPA conducts 
five-year reviews to confirm that the remedy continues to adequately 
protect human health and the environment. In the case of the Love Canal 
site, the institutional controls in place do not allow for unrestricted 
use or unlimited exposure. In September 2003, EPA issued the first 
five-year review report for the Love Canal site operations. NYSDEC 
provided technical oversight for the preparation of EPA's five-year 
review report and concurred with EPA's findings that the containment 
and barrier drain system were working properly. EPA concludes that the 
Site does not pose a significant threat to public health or the 
environment.
    EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk to 
public health or the environment, and it maintains the NPL as the list 
of those sites. As described in Sec.  300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any 
site or portion thereof deleted from the NPL remains eligible for 
remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site 
warrant such action in the future. Deletion of a site from the NPL does 
not affect potentially responsible party liability or impede agency 
efforts to recover costs associated with response efforts.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

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

    Dated: September 23, 2004.
Jane M. Kenny,
Regional Administrator--Region II.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, Part 300, Chapter I of Title 
40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, is amended as follows:

PART 300--[AMENDED]

0
1. The authority citation for part 300 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 42 U.S.C. 9601-9675; 33 U.S.C. 1321(c)(2); 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]

0
2. Table 1 of Appendix B to part 300 is amended by removing the site 
for ``Love Canal, Niagara Falls, New York.''
[FR Doc. 04-21806 Filed 9-29-04; 8:45 am]
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