[Federal Register Volume 71, Number 100 (Wednesday, May 24, 2006)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 29880-29882]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E6-7664]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1987-0002; FRL-8172-7]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent for partial deletion of the Rocky Mountain 
Arsenal National Priorities List Site from the National Priorities 
List; extension of public comment period.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 announced 
its intent to delete the Internal Parcel, encompassing 7,399 acres of 
the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Priorities List Site (RMA/NPL Site) 
On-Post Operable Unit (OU), from the National Priorities List (NPL) on 
April 26, 2006. The 30-day public comment period is scheduled to end on 
May 26, 2006. EPA has received a request to extend the public comment 
period. In response, EPA is extending the public comment period for an 
additional 30 days concluding on June 26, 2006.
    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

[[Page 29881]]

the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 
Act (CERCLA).
    EPA bases its proposal to delete the Internal Parcel of the RMA/NPL 
Site on the determination by EPA and the State of Colorado, through the 
Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE), that all 
appropriate actions under CERCLA have been implemented to protect human 
health, welfare, and the environment and that no further response 
action by responsible parties is appropriate.
    This partial deletion pertains to the surface media (soil, surface 
water, sediment) and structures within the Internal Parcel of the On-
Post OU of the RMA/NPL Site as well as the groundwater below the 
Internal Parcel that is east of E Street, with the exception of a small 
area of contaminated groundwater located in the northwest corner of 
Section 6. The rest of the On-Post OU, including groundwater below RMA 
that is west of E Street, and the Off-Post OU will remain on the NPL 
and response activities will continue at those OUs.

DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 26, 2006.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
SFUND-1987-0002, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov: Follow the on-line instruction 
for submitting comments.
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 303-312-6961.
     Mail: Ms. Jennifer Chergo, Community Involvement 
Coordinator (8OC), U.S. EPA, Region 8, 999 18th Street, Suite 300, 
Denver, Colorado, 80202-2466.
     Hand Delivery: 999 18th Street, Suite 300, Denver, 
Colorado, 80202-2466. Such deliveries are only accepted during the 
Docket's normal hours of operation, and special arrangements should be 
made for deliveries of boxed information.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-
1987-0002. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
http://www.regulations.gov, including any personal information 
provided, unless the comment includes information claimed to be 
Confidential Business Information (CBI) or other information whose 
disclosure is restricted by statute. Do not submit information that you 
consider to be CBI or otherwise protected through http://www.regulations.gov or e-mail. The http://www.regulations.gov Web site 
is an ``anonymous access'' system, which means EPA will not know your 
identity or contact information unless you provide it in the body of 
your comment. If you send an e-mail comment directly to EPA without 
going through http://www.regulations.gov, your e-mail address will be 
automatically captured and included as part of the comment that is 
placed in the public docket and made available on the Internet. If you 
submit an electronic comment, EPA recommends that you include your name 
and other contact information in the body of your comment and with any 
disk or CD-ROM you submit. If EPA cannot read your comment due to 
technical difficulties and cannot contact you for clarification, EPA 
may not be able to consider your comment. Electronic files should avoid 
the use of special characters, any form of encryption, and be free of 
any defects or viruses.
    Docket: All documents in the docket are listed in the http://www.regulations.gov index. Although listed in the index, some 
information is not publicly available, e.g., CBI or other information 
whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other material, such 
as copyrighted material, will be publicly available only in hard copy. 
Publicly available docket materials are available either electronically 
in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the EPA's Region 8 
Superfund Records Center, 999 18th Street, Denver, Colorado 80202-2466 
and the Joint Administrative Records Document Facility, Rocky Mountain 
Arsenal, Building 129, Room 2024, Commerce City, Colorado 80022-1748. 
The Region 8 Docket Facility is open from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. by 
appointment, Monday through Friday, excluding legal holidays. The EPA 
Docket telephone number is 303-312-6473. The RMA's Docket Facility is 
open from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding legal 
holidays, or by appointment. The RMA Docket telephone number is 303-
289-0362.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Jennifer Chergo, Community 
Involvement Coordinator (8OC), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 
Region 8, 999 18th Street, Suite 300, Denver Colorado, 80202-2466; 
telephone number: 1-800-227-8917 or (303) 312-6601; fax number: 303-
312-6961; e-mail address: [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 announces a 
thirty day extension of the public comment period for the proposed 
deletion of the Internal Parcel of the Rocky Mountain Arsenal National 
Priorities List (RMA/NPL) Site, Commerce City, Colorado, from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests comment on these proposed 
actions. The NPL constitutes 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 (CERCLA), 42 
U.S.C. 9605. EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant 
risk to public health or the environment and maintains the NPL as the 
list of those sites. Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial 
actions financed by the Hazardous Substance Superfund (Fund). The 
partial deletion from the RMA/NPL Site is proposed in accordance with 
40 CFR 300.425(e) and Notice of Policy Change: Partial Deletion of 
Sites Listed on the National Priorities List (60 FR 55466 (Nov. 1, 
1995)). As described in 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3), portions of a site 
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for further remedial actions if 
warranted by future conditions.
    EPA will accept comments concerning its intent for partial deletion 
of the RMA/NPL Site until June 26, 2006.
    Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites 
from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is using 
for this proposed partial deletion. Section IV discusses the Internal 
Parcel and explains how it meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from 
the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), sites may be deleted 
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate to protect public 
health or the environment. In making such a determination pursuant to 
section 300.425(e), EPA will consider, in consultation with the State, 
whether any of the following criteria have been met:
    Section 300.425(e)(1)(i). Responsible parties or other persons have 
implemented all appropriate response actions required;

[[Page 29882]]

    Section 300.425(e)(1)(ii). All appropriate Fund-financed response 
under CERCLA has been implemented, and no further response action by 
responsible parties is appropriate; or
    Section 300.425(e)(1)(iii). The remedial investigation has shown 
that the release poses no significant threat to public health or the 
environment and, therefore, taking of remedial measures is not 
appropriate.
    A partial deletion of a site from the NPL does not affect or impede 
EPA's ability to conduct CERCLA response activities for portions not 
deleted from the NPL. In addition, deletion of a portion of a site from 
the NPL does not affect the liability of responsible parties or impede 
agency efforts to recover costs associated with response efforts. The 
U.S. Army and Shell Oil Company will be responsible for all future 
remedial actions required at the areas deleted if future site 
conditions warrant such actions.

III. Deletion Procedures

    Upon determination that at least one of the criteria described in 
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP has been met, EPA may formally begin 
deletion procedures. The following procedures were used for the 
proposed deletion of the Internal Parcel from the RMA/NPL Site:
    (1) The Army has requested the partial deletion and prepared the 
relevant documents.
    (2) The State of Colorado, through the CDPHE, concurred with 
publication of the notice of intent for partial deletion.
    (3) Concurrent with the national Notice of Intent for Partial 
Deletion, a local notice was published in a newspaper of record and 
distributed to appropriate Federal, State, and local officials, and 
other interested parties. These notices announced a thirty day public 
comment period, ending May 26, 2006, based upon publication of the 
notice in the Federal Register and a local newspaper of record.
    (4) Concurrent with this national Notice of the Public Comment 
Extension, a local notice has been published in a newspaper of record 
and has been distributed to appropriate Federal, State, and local 
officials, and other interested parties. These notices announce a 
thirty day extension of the public comment period, ending June 26, 
2006.
    (5) EPA has made all relevant documents available at the 
information repositories listed previously for public inspection and 
copying.
    Upon completion of the thirty calendar day extension of the public 
comment period, EPA Region 8 will evaluate each significant comment and 
any significant new data received before issuing a final decision 
concerning the proposed partial deletion. EPA will prepare a 
responsiveness summary for each significant comment and any significant 
new data received during the public comment period and will address 
concerns presented in such comments and data. The responsiveness 
summary will be made available to the public at the EPA Region 8 office 
and the information repositories listed above and will be included in 
the final deletion package. Members of the public are encouraged to 
contact EPA Region 8 to obtain a copy of the responsiveness summaries. 
If, after review of all such comments and data, EPA determines that the 
partial deletion from the NPL is appropriate, EPA will publish a final 
notice of partial deletion in the Federal Register. Deletion of the 
Internal Parcel of the RMA/NPL Site does not actually occur until a 
final notice of partial deletion is published in the Federal Register. 
A copy of the final partial deletion package will be placed at the EPA 
Region 8 office and the information repositories listed above after the 
final document has been published in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Partial Site Deletion

    This notice announces a thirty day extension of the public comment 
period for the proposed partial deletion from the RMA/NPL Site. EPA 
Region 8 announced its intent to delete the Internal Parcel of the RMA/
NPL Site from the NPL on April 26, 2006. The original basis for 
deleting the Internal Parcel from the RMA/NPL Site has not changed. The 
Federal Register notice for the Internal Parcel (71 FR 24627, Apr. 26, 
2006) provides a thorough discussion of the basis for the intended 
partial deletion.

    Dated: May 15, 2006.
Robert E. Roberts,
Regional Administrator, Region 8.
 [FR Doc. E6-7664 Filed 5-23-06; 8:45 am]
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