[Federal Register Volume 70, Number 72 (Friday, April 15, 2005)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19915-19918]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 05-7411]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-7899-4]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete Naval Magazine Indian Island, Port 
Hadlock from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10, 
announces its intent to delete the Naval Magazine Indian Island Site 
(Site) located in Port Hadlock, Washington from the National Priorities 
List (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 (NCP), which EPA 
promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. 
EPA and the State of Washington have determined that the remedial 
action for the Site has been successfully executed by the Navy and no 
further response under CERCLA is needed.

DATES: Comments concerning the proposed deletion of this Site from the 
NPL may be submitted on or before May 16, 2005.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Beverly Gaines, EPA Point of 
Contact, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Mail Stop, ECL-110, Seattle, Washington 98101. Comprehensive 
information on this Site is available in the Administrative Record 
which is available for reviewing at Engineering Field Activity, 
Northwest, 19917 Seventh Avenue NE., Poulsbo, Washington 98370, (360) 
396-0018. Information on the Site and a copy of the deletion docket are 
available for viewing at the Information Repositories which are located 
at: Jefferson County Library, 620 Cedar Avenue, Port Hadlock, 
Washington 98339, (360) 385-6544, and at: U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Region 10, Superfund Records Center, 1200 Sixth Avenue, 
Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-4494.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beverly Gaines, EPA Point of Contact, 
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, 
Mail Stop, ECL-110, Seattle, Washington 98101, phone: (206) 553-1066, 
fax: (206) 553-0124, e-mail: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 10 announces its 
intent to delete the Naval Magazine Indian Island, which is located 
near Port Hadlock, Washington, from the National Priorities List (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 (NCP), which EPA 
promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. 
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 these sites.
    The Naval Magazine Indian Island NPL Site covers approximately 
2,700 acres. The remedial action focused primarily on a 3.7 acre 
landfill that operated from the 1940's until the mid 1970's and 
received a variety of solid and hazardous wastes. The Record of 
Decision for Indian Island signed in August 1995 by the Navy, EPA, and 
the State of Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology), specified 
remedial actions for the Northend Landfill and addressed several other 
areas of contamination. The Navy has conducted cleanup activities at 
the Site under the oversight of EPA and Ecology pursuant to an 
Interagency Agreement between the Navy, EPA, and Ecology. EPA and 
Ecology have determined that remedial action for the Site has been 
successfully completed by the Navy. The Site is an active Naval base 
used primarily for handling and storage of Naval ordnance. After 
deletion from the NPL, Ecology will continue its oversight activities 
at the Site.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete the 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 the procedures EPA 
is using for this action. Section IV discusses the Indian Island Site 
and explains how the site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that sites may be deleted 
from, or recategorized on the NPL, where no further response is 
appropriate. In making a determination to delete a site 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 parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required; or
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have 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 to the environment and, 
therefore, taking remedial measures is not appropriate.
    Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances, 
pollutants

[[Page 19916]]

or contaminants remain at a site above levels that allow for unlimited 
use and unrestricted exposure, a subsequent review of the site will be 
conducted at least every five years after the initiation of the 
remedial action at the site to ensure that the site remains protective 
of public health and the environment. If new information becomes 
available which indicates a need for further action, the Navy may 
initiate additional remedial actions. Whenever there is a significant 
release from a deleted site from the NPL, a site may be restored to the 
NPL without application of the Hazard Ranking System. In the case of 
this Site, the selected remedy is protective of human health and the 
environment. However, because the remedy leaves waste on Site (only at 
the Northend Landfill) above levels that allow for unlimited use and 
unrestricted exposure, a review of the selected remedy will be 
conducted at least every five years from initiation of the remedial 
action. EPA's decision on this deletion will not change the listing of 
Naval Magazine Indian Island on the Washington State Hazardous Sites 
List.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this Site: The Navy, the responsible party for the Site, has 
implemented all appropriate response actions required, the State of 
Washington has concurred with the proposed deletion decision, and a 
notice will be published in the local newspapers and distributed to 
appropriate federal, state, and local officials and other interested 
parities announcing the commencement of a 30-day public comment period 
on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and all relevant documents have 
been compiled in the site deletion docket and made available in the 
local site information repositories.
    Deletion of the site from the NPL does not in itself, create, alter 
or revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management. 
As mentioned in section II of this action, Sec.  300.425(e)(3) of the 
NCP states that the deletion of the site from the NPL does not preclude 
eligibility for future response actions. For deletion of this Site, 
EPA's Regional Office will accept and evaluate public comments on EPA's 
Notice of Intent to Delete before making a final decision to delete. If 
necessary, the Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address 
any significant public comments received. 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 Intended Site Deletion

    The following Site summary provides the Agency's rational for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.

Site Background and History

    Naval Magazine Indian Island (formerly named Naval Ordnance Center, 
Pacific Division, Detachment Port Hadlock) is on Indian Island in 
Jefferson County, Washington, southeast of Port Townsend and east of 
Hadlock. This island is bordered by Kilisut Harbor to the east, Port 
Townsend Bay to the west and north, and Oak Bay and Portage Canal to 
the south. Indian Island is wholly owned by the Navy and is 
approximately five miles long and covers approximately 2,700 aces. No 
private residences are present on Naval Magazine Indian Island, 
however, there are approximately 14 military residences. A public 
highway connects the Olympic Peninsula with Indian Island and 
Marrowstone Island, an island east of Port Hadlock Detachment which 
supports fewer than 250 private residences. The nearest Olympic 
Peninsula communities are Port Hadlock and Irondale, both less than two 
miles west of Indian Island across Port Townsend Bay.
    The Navy purchased the island in 1939 and primarily used it for 
munitions storage and handling. In total, nineteen locations at the 
Site were identified where contamination may have represented a risk to 
human health or the environment. Potential sources of hazardous 
substances identified included municipal and industrial landfills, drum 
and container storage areas, above and below ground storage tanks, burn 
pits, and disposal pits. Disposal activities at several site locations 
resulted in soil, groundwater, sediment and shellfish contamination. 
The contaminants were ordnance compounds, heavy metals, polychlorinated 
biphenyls (PCBs), and pesticides. Naval Magazine Indian Island was 
proposed for listing on the NPL on June 23, 1993 (58 ance FR 34018) and 
listed to the NPL on May 31, 1994 (59 FR 27989).
    All locations have been investigated and determined to require no 
cleanup action or have been cleaned up to a condition that allows for 
unlimited use and unrestrictive exposure, except for the Northend 
Landfill. All investigation and cleanup activities were conducted by 
the Navy pursuant to the Interagency Agreement between the Navy, EPA, 
and Ecology. A summary of cleanup activities conducted at the Site can 
be found in the Final Closeout Report which is available at the 
information repositories. More detailed information about CERCLA 
activities at the Site can be obtained in the Administrative Record. 
Following is a discussion of remedial activities conducted at the 
Northend Landfill.
Northend Landfill (Also Referred to as Site 10)
    The Northend Landfill is an approximately 3.7-acre landfill on the 
north end of Naval Magazine Indian Island. The site is relatively flat 
and is covered with grass. The landfill is located on Boggy Spit; it 
extends to the beach and had partially eroded onto the beach. This site 
was used as the primary landfill for the island from about 1945 until 
the mid-1970s. An incinerator burned materials at the site from the 
1940s to 1953. Materials reportedly disposed of in the landfill include 
paint, thinners, strippers, oil, lead and zinc batteries, asbestos, 
submarine nets, metal parts, polyurethane resins, and zinc-plating 
slag. Various site investigations have been conducted at the landfill 
since 1987, including soil, groundwater, marine sediment, and shellfish 
sampling, with chemical analyses for a wide range of constituents. Low 
concentrations of semivolatile organic compounds, pesticides, and 
metals were detected in the soil and groundwater. The results of the 
investigation were included in the final remedial investigation/
feasibility study (RI/FS) . Concurrent with the RI/FS, human health and 
ecological risk assessments were completed by the Navy in 1993.

Selected Remedy for the Northend Landfill

    To mitigate potential risks posed to human health and the 
environment, the ROD selected the following remedial actions for the 
landfill:

--Placing a landfill cap over approximately 3.7 acres.
--Placing erosion protection along approximately 900 linear feet of the 
landfill perimeter and shoreline.
--Removal of eroded landfill debris located in the intertidal area, 
excavating landfill contents from the water edge of the landfill in 
order to construct the erosion protection.
--Implementing institutional controls, which include a temporary 
prohibition on shellfish harvesting at Beaches 1, 2 and 19 around Boggy 
Spit and land use restrictions for

[[Page 19917]]

residential use and farming. Upon base closure, deed restrictions on 
activities destructive to the cap and erosion protection will be 
attached to any property transfer, and requirements for continued 
operation and maintenance of the landfill cap and erosion protection 
will be addressed.
--Conducting a monitoring program for groundwater, sediment, and 
shellfish. Groundwater monitoring will be used to measure the 
protectiveness of the landfill cap by monitoring the level of 
contaminants in the pathway from the landfill to marine habitat. The 
results of shellfish monitoring will be used to determine when the 
shellfish are safe to eat. The results of the monitoring program will 
be reviewed in detail at the conclusion of the monitoring period to 
determine whether additional monitoring is necessary.
--Conducting regular maintenance and inspection of the landfill cap and 
the erosion protection, particularly after storm events.
--Conducting five-year reviews.

Cleanup

    Mobilization and remedial construction began in July 1996. The 
implementation of archaeological mitigation field activities and 
collection of vegetation (e.g., willow whips and dune grass) to be used 
in shoreline protection system began concurrently with construction 
mobilization. In August and September 1996, work progressed to the 
installation of the armor-rock section of the shoreline protection 
system in the High Energy Area and the quarry spall base and bench for 
the Low and Very Low Energy Areas. Approximately 1,000 cubic yards of 
excavated material from the installation of the armor-rock section were 
re-graded over the old landfill surface and then compacted. The 
approximately 10,000 cubic yards of imported material used for the test 
fills were re-graded and compacted over the site to establish a rough 
grade. Additional import material was placed to establish a final 
grade. To reduce environmental impacts, waste was not relocated or 
disposed of off site. Rather, landfill waste excavated from the 
intertidal area during beach cleanup and armor-rock placement was 
placed and capped within the landfill. As a result, no waste 
characterization sampling and analysis were conducted during the 
remedial construction. After the final grade was established in October 
1996, a gas collection system was installed in the landfill area. The 
purpose of the landfill gas system was to vent landfill gas (although 
none had been detected in studies done for the Olympic Air Pollution 
Control Authority) and, more importantly, to equalize air pressure 
under the cap from wave action. Various components of the landfill cap 
(covering approximately three acres), soil cover, and storm drains were 
installed as weather allowed from October 1996 through January 1997. On 
September 26, 1997, the Navy issued the Preliminary Closeout Report 
signifying successful completion of construction activities. EPA and 
Ecology concurred with the findings in the report.

Operation and Maintenance

    The ROD required that the selected remedy for the Northend Landfill 
include an O&M program to be conducted by the Navy. O&M activities 
began in 1997, immediately following completion of the Remedial Action 
for the landfill. O&M activities are described in the O&M Plan and 
include inspection, maintenance, and repair of the functional features 
of the landfill cap and shoreline protection system. These functional 
features include the landfill cap system, landfill gas collection 
system, landfill perimeter road, stormwater drainage system, irrigation 
system, hillside and site access road inspection, log revetment/anchor 
system, armor-rock shoreline protection system, and vegetated geogrid. 
Pursuant to the 2004 Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD), the 
O&M Plan was revised to include institutional controls requirements.

Five-Year Reviews

    CERCLA requires a five-year review of all sites with hazardous 
substances remaining above health-based levels for unrestricted use of 
the site. Since the cleanup of the Northend Landfill utilized 
containment of hazardous materials as the method to reduce risks, the 
5-year review process will be used to insure that hazardous substances 
remain encased within the landfill and that human health and the 
environment continue to be protected. In September 2000, the Navy 
conducted the first 5-year review for the Site under the oversight of 
EPA and Ecology. The 2000 5-year review concluded that the remedy is 
protective of human health and the environment. Subsequent five-year 
reviews will be completed no later than five years after the date of 
the previous five-year review.

Institutional Controls

    The ROD requires institutional controls as a component of the 
selected remedy for the Northend Landfill including a temporary 
prohibition on shellfish harvesting at beaches around Boggy Spit and 
land use restrictions for residential use and farming.
    An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was signed on 
November 19, 2004, for the Record of Decision pertaining to the 
Northend Landfill at the Naval Magazine Indian Island. The ESD 
clarifies both the site-specific institutional control requirements and 
establishes the requirement for how the Navy will implement, maintain, 
and monitor these site-specific requirements for the Northend Landfill. 
Institutional controls are needed at the landfill because it contains 
hazardous substances above levels that allow for unlimited use and 
unrestricted exposure. Human health and the environment will be 
protected as long as the institutional controls are maintained by the 
Navy. By addressing the institutional controls requirements in greater 
detail, the ESD clarified but did not change the selected remedies. The 
ESD affirmed that the selected remedies remain protective of human 
health and the environment, comply with federal and state requirements 
that were identified in the ROD as applicable or relevant and 
appropriate to the remedial action at the time of the original ROD, and 
are cost effective.

Major Community Involvement Activities

    The Navy, with the support of EPA and Ecology, has maintained an 
ongoing commitment to community involvement since preparation of the 
initial Community Relations Plan in 1989. The community has been 
informed of progress at the Site through newspaper ads, fact sheets, 
open houses, and public meetings. The Proposed Plan was circulated for 
public review and comment prior to preparation of the Record of 
Decision. Key documents have been available for review at the nearest 
public library located in Port Hadlock. A Technical Review Committee, 
consisting of interested community members and representatives of 
various governmental entities, was established in 1991 and meet 
periodically to discuss Site related issues. The Technical Review 
Committee was replaced by a Restoration Advisory Board in 1995 and met 
periodically until major work at the Site was completed in 2000.
    The major documents and information which EPA relied on or 
considered in deciding that the Site can be deleted from the NPL, are 
available for the public to review at the information repositories.

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Applicable Deletion Criteria/State Concurrence

    One of the three criteria for site deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``responsible parties have implemented 
all appropriate response actions required.'' EPA, with the concurrence 
of the State of Washington, believe that this criterion for deletion 
has been met. Subsequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this Site from 
the NPL. Documents supporting this action are available from the 
docket.

State Concurrence

    The Washington Department of Ecology concurs with the proposed 
deletion of the Naval Magazine Indian Island Site from the NPL.

    Dated: March 18, 2005.
Ronald A. Kreizenbeck,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 05-7411 Filed 4-14-05; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P