[Federal Register Volume 73, Number 115 (Friday, June 13, 2008)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 33721-33724]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: E8-13369]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008, Notice 4; FRL-8579-1]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Direct Final Notice of deletion of the Fourth Street Abandoned 
Refinery Superfund site from the National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 is 
publishing a direct final Notice of Deletion of the Fourth Street 
Abandoned Refinery Site (Site), located in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma 
County, Oklahoma, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, 
promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental 
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, 
is Appendix B of 40 CFR Part 300 which is the National Oil and 
Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). This direct 
final deletion is being published by EPA with the concurrence of the 
State of Oklahoma, through the Oklahoma Department of Environmental 
Quality (ODEQ), because EPA has determined that all appropriate 
response actions under CERCLA, other than operation and maintenance and 
five-year reviews have been completed. However, this deletion does not 
preclude future actions under Superfund.

DATES: This direct final deletion will be effective August 12, 2008 
unless EPA receives adverse comments by July 14, 2008. If adverse 
comments are received, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of the 
direct final deletion in the Federal Register informing the public that 
the deletion will not take effect.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-
SFUND-1989-0008, Notice 4, by one of the following methods:
     http://www.regulations.gov (Follow on-line instructions 
for submitting comments).
     E-mail: [email protected].
     Fax: 214-665-6660.
     Mail: Donn Walters, Community Involvement, U.S. EPA Region 
6 (6SF-TS), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, TX 75202-2733, (214) 665-6483 or 
1-800-533-3508.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-
1989-0008, Notice 4. 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 the hard 
copy. Publicly available docket materials are available either 
electronically in http://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the 
information repositories.

U.S. EPA Online Library System at http://www.epa.gov/natlibra/ols.htm;
U.S. EPA Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite 700, Dallas, Texas 75202-
2733,

[[Page 33722]]

(214) 665-6617, by appointment only Monday through Friday 9 a.m. to 12 
p.m. and 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
Ralph Ellison Library, 2000 Northeast 23, Oklahoma City, OK 73111, 
(409) 643-5979, Monday through Wednesday 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Thursday and 
Friday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (ODEQ), 707 North 
Robinson, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 73101, (512) 239-2920, Monday 
through Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Bartolome Canellas (6SF-RL), Remedial 
Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 6, U.S. 
EPA, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202, (214) 665-6662 or 1-800-
533-3508 or [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The EPA Region 6 office is publishing this direct final notice of 
deletion of the Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery Site, Oklahoma City, 
Oklahoma County, Oklahoma from the NPL. 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 maintains the NPL 
as a 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 Substance 
Superfund (Fund). As described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites 
deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial actions in the 
unlikely event that conditions at the site warrant such action.
    Because EPA considers this action to be noncontroversial and 
routine, EPA is taking it without prior publication of a notice of 
intent to delete. This action will be effective August 12, 2008 unless 
EPA receives adverse comments by July 14, 2008. Along with the direct 
final Notice of Deletion, EPA is co-publishing a Notice of Intent to 
Delete in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of the Federal Register. If 
adverse comments are received within the 30-day public comment period 
on this document, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of this direct 
final deletion before the effective date of the deletion and the 
deletion will not take effect. EPA will, as appropriate, prepare a 
response to comments and continue with the deletion process on the 
basis of the notice of intent to delete and the comments already 
received. There will be no additional opportunity to comment.
    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 action. Section IV discusses the Site and explains how the 
Site meets the deletion criteria. Section V discusses EPA actions to 
delete the Site from the NPL unless adverse comments are received 
during the public comment period.

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 and the environment. In making a determination pursuant to 40 
CFR 300.425(e), EPA will consider, in consultation with the state, 
whether any of the following criteria have been met:
    i. Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    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.
    Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances, 
pollutants, or contaminants remain at the deleted site above levels 
that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, CERCLA section 
121(c), 42 U.S.C. 9621(c) requires that a subsequent review of the site 
be conducted at least every five years after the initiation of the 
remedial action at the deleted site to ensure that the action remains 
protective of public health and the environment. 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.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures apply to deletion of the Site:
    (1) EPA consulted with the state of Oklahoma prior to developing 
this direct final Notice of Deletion and the Notice of Intent to Delete 
co-published today in the ``Proposed Rules'' section of the Federal 
Register.
    (2) EPA has provided the state 30 working days for review of this 
notice and the parallel Notice of Intent to Delete prior to their 
publication today, and the state, through the Oklahoma Department of 
Environmental Quality, has concurred on the deletion of the Site from 
the NPL.
    (3) Concurrent with the publication of this direct final Notice of 
Deletion, a notice of availability is being published in The Oklahoman 
and is being distributed to appropriate federal, state and local 
government officials and other interested parties. The newspaper notice 
announces the 30-day public comment period concerning the Notice of 
Intent to Delete the Site from the NPL.
    (4) The EPA placed copies of documents supporting the deletion in 
the Site information repositories identified above.
    (5) If adverse comments are received within the 30-day public 
comment period on this document, EPA will publish a timely notice of 
withdrawal of this direct final notice of deletion before its effective 
date and will prepare a response to comments and continue with the 
deletion process on the basis of the notice of intent to delete and the 
comments already received.
    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. Deletion of a site from 
the NPL does not in any way alter EPA's right to take enforcement 
actions, as appropriate. The NPL is designed primarily for 
informational purposes and to assist EPA management of Superfund sites. 
As mentioned in section II of this document, Section 300.425(e)(3) of 
the NCP states that the deletion of a site from the NPL does not 
preclude eligibility for future response actions should future 
conditions warrant such actions.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

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

Site Background and History

    The Site occupies the Southwest Quarter (SW \1/4\) of Section 36, 
Township 12 North, Range 3 West, Indian Meridian, Oklahoma County,

[[Page 33723]]

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Located at 2200 Block NE 4th Street (South of 
NE 4th Street and East of Martin Luther King Boulevard), the Site 
extends over approximately 27 acres. The Fourth Street Abandoned 
Refinery collected, stored, and re-refined used oils and distributed 
the recycled product. The refinery was active from the 1940s to the 
late 1960s or early 1970s.
    In 1985 through 1988, EPA conducted investigations of the Site. The 
sampling results revealed elevated levels of volatile organic 
compounds, semi-volatile organic compounds, and metals found in surface 
water, soil, sediment, and ground water. The Site also was found to 
contain acidic sludges in on-site lagoons or pits.
    The data from these sampling efforts resulted in the Site being 
proposed for the Superfund NPL on June 24, 1988, 53 FR 23978, and the 
Site was included on the NPL on March 31, 1989, 54 FR 10512.

Response Actions

    The May 1992 Remedial Investigation report identified the Site as 
containing remnants of the dismantled refinery, including waste 
impoundments and an exposed tar mat. The potential additional lifetime 
cancer risks to the on-site workers were estimated at 3.0 x 10E-03, 
which are three orders of magnitude higher than the criterion of 
acceptability. The shallow ground water was not considered a potential 
source of drinking water and was reported of limited potential 
beneficial use due to the high value of Total Dissolved Solids (TDD), 
however concerns of potential contamination to the deeper Garber-
Wellington aquifer, triggered further investigations into the ground 
water to ensure protection of this source. Regionally, Oklahoma City 
receives its public water supply from reservoirs surrounding the City.
    The Site was divided into two operable units, a source control 
operable unit and a ground water operable unit. EPA issued a Record of 
Decision on September 28, 1992 for the source control operable unit. 
The remedial action activities for the source control operable unit, 
initiated in March 1995, consisted of on-site neutralization and 
stabilization of wastes, and off-site disposal at a permitted landfill. 
The remedial action was completed in April 1996.
    EPA issued a ground water Record of Decision on September 30, 1993. 
The remedial action activities for the ground water operable unit, 
initiated in December 1996, consisted of quarterly ground water 
monitoring for three years followed by semi-annual monitoring for three 
years. EPA issued an Explanation of Significant Difference in January 
2006, and documented a final decision to discontinue further semi-
annual monitoring.
    EPA issued a Final Close Out Report on March 7, 2006, which 
affirmed that the remedial action activities for the source control 
operable unit and ground water operable unit had been completed and 
were consistent with CERCLA, as amended, and to the extent practicable, 
the NCP.
    EPA issued a second Explanation of Significant Difference in May 
2008 to clarify the final decision for clean up levels and document the 
need for Institutional Controls and Five-Year Reviews.

Institutional Controls

    An element of the selected remedy is to place notices to the 
property deed warning of the site hazards. These notices were filed 
pursuant to Oklahoma Statutes, Title 27A (2000 Supp.), Section 2-7-
123(B), by the Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality in 2001. 
These notices declare the sites considered appropriate for activities 
associated with industrial/commercial uses, the anticipated future land 
use according to the ROD. Furthermore, the Oklahoma City Zoning maps 
indicate the land use for the sites as classified for industrial.
    A component of the ground water ROD is to ensure future potential 
users of the lower Garber-Wellington aquifer are not exposed to 
contaminants from the site. As part of Operation and Maintenance 
activities, the State maintains the institutional controls and reviews 
records of wells drilled in the area to ensure shallow ground water is 
not used, and additional wells are not installed in the area.

Cleanup Goals

    The remedial action cleanup activities at the Fourth Street 
Abandoned Refinery Site are consistent with the objectives of the NCP 
and will provide protection to human health and the environment. The 
source control operable unit cleanup goals were to provide for 
commercial/industrial reuse of the Site. During the remedial action, 
confirmation samples were collected to ensure that all materials left 
at the Site were below the cleanup goals. The remedial action 
objectives for the ground water operable unit, to ensure that future 
potential users of the lower Garber-Wellington aquifer are not exposed 
to contaminants from the Site and to ensure that the North Canadian 
River is not impacted by contaminants from the Site, have also been met 
by the remedial actions at the Site.
    The Remedial Investigation identified the shallow aquifer as a 
Class III aquifer (the water is not suitable for human consumption). As 
indicated through the ground water monitoring events, and the 
additional investigations conducted, it was confirmed that the shallow 
ground water in the alluvium is not usable as a drinking water source. 
During a 1996 investigation, additional wells were drilled below 200 
feet in depth to document the presence of a shale aquitard, which is 
approximately 160+ feet deep. This shale within the Garber Sandstone 
acts as an ``aquitard'' to separate the upper and lower ground water 
aquifers, and provides protection to the lower aquifer from the 
migration of contaminants in the shallow ground water. The deeper 
ground water of the Garber-Wellington aquifer below the shale aquitard 
is below cleanup goals.
    The remedial action objective ``to ensure future potential users of 
the deeper Garber-Wellington aquifer are not exposed to contaminants 
from the site'' is achieved through the State monitoring of the 
installation of any additional wells in the area.

Operation and Maintenance

    The ODEQ has committed to performing Operation and Maintenance 
(O&M) activities at the Site. In March 2006, the ODEQ submitted the 
Site O&M Plan to EPA, which defines the long-term O&M activities for 
the Site. O&M activities consist of maintaining the institutional 
controls on the Site and semi-annual search of well drilling records to 
ensure that no drinking water wells are installed on or near the Site.

Five-Year Review

    Hazardous substances remain at the Site above levels that allow for 
unlimited use and unrestricted exposure. Therefore, the EPA must 
conduct a statutory five-year review of the remedy no less than every 
five years after the initiation of the remedial action pursuant to 
CERCLA Section 121(c), and as provided in the current guidance on Five-
Year Reviews (OSWER Directive 9355.7-03B-P, Comprehensive Five-Year 
Review Guidance, June 2001). Based on the five-year reviews, EPA will 
determine whether human health and the environment continue to be 
adequately protected by the implemented remedy. Three five-year reviews 
for this Site have been conducted to date, the first one on October 18, 
2000, the second one on July 29, 2002 and the third one on May 15, 
2007. All the reviews found that the remedy remains protective of human

[[Page 33724]]

health and the environment, and that the Site appears to have been 
properly maintained during the period between reports. The next five-
year review will occur no later than May 15, 2012.

Community Involvement

    Public participation activities required in CERCLA Section 113(k), 
42 U.S.C. 9613(k), and CERCLA Section 117, 42 U.S.C. 9617, have been 
satisfied, and documents which EPA generated and/or relied on are 
available to the public in the information repositories.
    A Public Comment period was established when the site was proposed 
to the National Priorities List, and Public Meetings were conducted on 
July 1992 and August 1993 to discuss the proposed remedies for the soil 
and the groundwater operable units. With this Notice of Deletion, a 30 
day public comment period is established before making this deletion 
final.

V. Deletion Action

    The EPA, with concurrence of the State of Oklahoma, has determined 
that all appropriate responses under CERCLA have been completed, and 
that no further response actions under CERCLA, other than O&M and five-
year reviews, are necessary. Therefore, EPA is deleting the Site from 
the NPL.
    Because EPA considers this action to be noncontroversial and 
routine, EPA is taking it without prior publication. This action will 
be effective August 12, 2008 unless EPA receives adverse comments by 
July 14, 2008. If adverse comments are received within the 30-day 
public comment period, EPA will publish a timely withdrawal of this 
direct final notice of deletion before the effective date of the 
deletion and it will not take effect. The EPA will prepare a response 
to comments and continue with the deletion process on the basis of the 
notice of intent to delete and the comments already received. There 
will be no additional opportunity to comment.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

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

    Dated: May 23, 2008.
Richard E. Greene,
Regional Administrator, Region 6.

0
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 40 CFR part 300 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. 9601-9657; 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 under Oklahoma (``OK'') 
by removing the site name ``Fourth Street Abandoned Refinery'' and the 
city ``Oklahoma City.''

[FR Doc. E8-13369 Filed 6-12-08; 8:45 am]
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