[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 31 (Thursday, February 14, 2019)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 4033-4035]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-02348]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1986-0005; FRL-9989-47--Region 9]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List: Partial Deletion of the Beckman Instruments 
Superfund Site

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 9 is issuing 
a Notice of Intent to Delete the soil portion of the Beckman 
Instruments Superfund Site (Site) located in Porterville, California, 
from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on 
this proposed action. The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of 
the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability 
Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended, is an appendix of the National Oil 
and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). EPA and the 
State of California, through the Department of Toxic Substances Control 
(DTSC), have determined that all appropriate soil response actions 
under CERCLA have been completed. However, this deletion does not 
preclude future actions under Superfund.
    This partial deletion pertains to the soil; a map indicating the 
area to be deleted is in the public docket. The groundwater will remain 
on the NPL and is not being considered for deletion as part of this 
action. Maintenance, monitoring, and five-year reviews of the 
groundwater remedy will continue until all drinking water standards 
have been met.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 18, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-
SFUND-1986-0005, by one of the following methods:
     https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the online 
instructions for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot 
be edited or removed from Regulations.gov. EPA may publish any comment 
received to its public docket. Do not submit electronically any 
information you consider to be Confidential Business Information or 
other information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Multimedia 
submissions (audio, video, etc.) must be accompanied by a written 
comment. The written comment is considered the official comment and 
should include discussion of all points you wish to make. EPA will 
generally not consider comments or comment contents located outside of 
the primary submission (i.e. on the web, cloud, or other file sharing 
system). For additional submission methods, the full EPA public comment 
policy, information about CBI or multimedia submissions, and general 
guidance on making effective comments, please visit https://www2.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
     Email: Project Manager: [email protected] or Community 
Involvement Coordinator: [email protected].
     Mail: Holly Hadlock (SFD-7-3), U.S. EPA, 75 Hawthorne 
Street, San Francisco, CA 94105.
     Hand delivery: Superfund Records Center, U.S. EPA, 75 
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, California. Such deliveries are 
accepted only during EPA'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-
1986-0005. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
https://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 https://www.regulations.gov or email. The https://www.regulations.gov website 
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 email comment directly to EPA without 
going through https://www.regulations.gov, your email address will 
automatically be 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 https://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 https://www.regulations.gov or in hard copy at the 
following repositories:
    Superfund Records Center, 75 Hawthorne Street, Room 3110, San 
Francisco, California, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through 
Friday, excluding federal holidays; (415) 947-8717.
    Site Repository: 41 W Thurman Avenue, Porterville, California. Call 
(559) 784-0177 for hours of operation.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Holly Hadlock, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. EPA, Region 9 (SFD-7-3), 75 Hawthorne Street, San 
Francisco, CA 94105, (415) 972-3171, email: [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

    EPA Region 9 announces its intent to delete the soil portion of the 
Beckman Instruments Superfund Site from the 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 maintains the NPL 
in order to identify sites that appear to present a significant risk to 
public health, welfare, or the environment. Sites on the NPL are 
eligible for remedial actions financed by the Hazardous Substance 
Superfund (Fund). This partial deletion of the Beckman Instruments Site 
is proposed in accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e) and is consistent with 
the Notice of Policy Change: Partial Deletion of Sites Listed on the 
National Priorities List. 60 FR 55466 (Nov. 1, 1995). As described in 
section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, a portion of a site deleted from the 
NPL remains

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eligible for Fund-financed remedial action if future conditions warrant 
such actions.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to partially 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 procedures that EPA is using 
for this action. Section IV discusses the soil of the Beckman 
Instruments Superfund Site and demonstrates 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. In making such 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 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.
    Pursuant to CERCLA section 121(c) and the NCP, EPA conducts five-
year reviews to ensure the continued protectiveness of remedial actions 
where hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remain at a 
site above levels that allow for unlimited use and unrestricted 
exposure. EPA conducts such five-year reviews even if a site is deleted 
from the NPL. At the Beckman Instruments Site, contaminants in soil 
have been cleaned up to levels that allow for unlimited use and 
unrestricted exposure, and therefore no five-year reviews for the 
portion of the Site proposed to be deleted are necessary. EPA may 
initiate further action to ensure continued protectiveness at a deleted 
site if new information becomes available that indicates it is 
appropriate. 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 soil portion of 
the Site:
    (1) EPA consulted with the State before developing this Notice of 
Intent for Partial Deletion.
    (2) EPA has provided the State 30 working days for review of this 
notice prior to publication of it today.
    (3) In accordance with the criteria discussed above, EPA has 
determined that no further response is appropriate.
    (4) The State of California, through DTSC, has concurred with the 
deletion of the soil portion of the Beckman Instruments Superfund Site 
from the NPL.
    (5) Concurrently, with the publication of this Notice of Intent for 
Partial Deletion in the Federal Register, a notice is being published 
in a major local newspaper, the Porterville Recorder. The notice 
announces the 30-day public comment period concerning the Notice of 
Intent for Partial Deletion of the Site from the NPL.
    (6) EPA placed copies of documents supporting the proposed partial 
deletion in the deletion docket and made these items available for 
public inspection and copying at the Site information repositories 
identified above.
    If comments are received within the 30-day comment period on this 
document, EPA will evaluate and respond accordingly to the comments 
before making a final decision to delete the soil portion of the site. 
If necessary, EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address any 
significant public comments received. After the public comment period, 
if EPA determines it is still appropriate to delete the soil portion of 
the Beckman Instruments Superfund Site, the Regional Administrator will 
publish a final Notice of Partial Deletion in the Federal Register. 
Public notices, public submissions and copies of the Responsiveness 
Summary, if prepared, will be made available to interested parties and 
included in the site information repositories listed above.
    Deletion of a portion of a site from the NPL does not itself 
create, alter, or revoke any individual's rights or obligations. 
Deletion of a portion 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. 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 Partial Site Deletion

    The following information provides EPA's rationale for deleting the 
soil portion of the Beckman Instruments Superfund Site from the NPL.

Site Background and History

    The Site (CERCLIS ID # CAD048645444), which includes the Beckman 
industrial plant and the surrounding study area, is located near the 
southern limit of the City of Porterville, California. Porterville is 
in Tulare County on the eastern edge of California's San Joaquin 
Valley. Site contamination originated at the plant, physically located 
at 167 West Poplar Avenue in Porterville. The plant occupies 
approximately 12 acres, while the overall Site is approximately 160 
acres in size and extends to the Tule River to the north, plant 
property limits to the east, Poplar Ditch to the south, and Newcomb 
Street to the west. Beckman Instruments, now operating as Beckman 
Coulter, Inc. (BCI), started manufacturing electronic equipment 
assemblies and printed circuit boards in Porterville in 1967. 
Industrial processes used at the plant included electroplating and 
degreasing. Past processes and materials handling at the Beckman plant 
were responsible for lead contamination in soils at the Beckman plant. 
From 1975 until early 1983, waste discharged to an on-site evaporation 
pond resulted in groundwater becoming contaminated with volatile 
organic compounds (VOCs), primarily 1,1-dichloroethene. This 
contaminated groundwater migrated beyond the boundaries of the plant 
property. On October 15, 1984, the Site was proposed for NPL listing 
(49 FR 40320). On June 10, 1986, EPA added the Site to the NPL (51 FR 
21054). There is one site-wide Operable Unit which includes both 
groundwater and soil. The soil is being addressed in this proposed 
action. A map of the proposed deletion area is in the docket.

Ongoing Development

    The plant property is zoned for industrial and agricultural use. 
Land use in the surrounding area is residential, commercial, and 
agricultural. Since the 1990s, plant activities have scaled back. The 
Beckman plant is now owned and operated by Nypro, a Jabil Company.

1989 Investigation and Remedy for Soils

    EPA completed a remedial investigation and feasibility study in 
1989 and concluded that the only contaminant of concern in soil was 
lead in the operational area. EPA evaluated three soil remedial action 
alternatives in the Record of Decision (ROD): No action (S-1); 
excavation and disposal (S-3); and extraction, treatment, and disposal 
(S-4). Alternative S-1 was deemed not protective of human health and 
the

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environment and Alternative S-4 was deemed not cost-effective. EPA 
selected Alternative S-3, excavation and off-site disposal at an 
approved facility, for the soil remedy in the September 26, 1989, ROD. 
A cleanup level of 200 milligram per kilogram (mg/kg) lead was selected 
based on human health risk modeling. The remedial action objective was 
to prevent direct contact with, and inhalation of, lead-contaminated 
soil. EPA determined that this remedial action would allow for 
unrestricted access and use of the plant property. EPA also selected a 
cleanup remedy for groundwater; the remedy for VOCs in groundwater was 
extraction, treatment, and discharge of cleaned water. EPA issued a ROD 
Amendment in 2005 changing the groundwater remedy to monitored natural 
attenuation.

Soil Response Actions and Cleanup Levels

    In March 1990 Beckman conducted the soil remedial action, 
excavating approximately 18 cubic feet of lead-contaminated soil, which 
was transported to Kettleman Hills Landfill, a CERCLA-approved facility 
in Kettleman City, California.
    In 2013, EPA issued the Fourth Five-Year Review Report which 
assessed the protectiveness of the remedy. In this report EPA noted 
that in 2009 the California residential lead screening level (SL) was 
revised to 80 mg/kg, based on 1 [micro]g/deciliter benchmark for 
source-specific incremental change in blood lead levels for children. 
EPA determined that the 1990 soil cleanup was protective for 
commercial/industrial use of the property but not residential use. 
Based on the finding in the Fourth Five-Year Review Report, EPA asked 
BCI to re-evaluate the post-excavation lead concentrations and 
determine if the new residential lead screening level of 80 mg/kg had 
been attained during the 1990 soil excavation.
    From 2015 to 2017, BCI, with EPA oversight, conducted several 
investigations and excavations. Soil samples were collected from the 
1990 excavation area and several samples had lead above 80 mg/kg. In 
2017 BCI did a more thorough investigation and by October 2017 had 
excavated approximately 270 additional cubic yards of soil, which were 
transported to Kettleman Hills Landfill. Confirmation sampling and 
analysis indicated that 50 samples were below the California 
residential screening level of 80 mg/kg and four samples were just 
above this concentration. The average concentration of the remaining 
soil is well below 80 mg/kg; a statistical analysis for the remaining 
soil calculated a conservative estimate of a mean concentration of 24 
mg/kg. EPA determined that the Site soil had been cleaned to a level 
that allows for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure.

Monitoring and Institutional Controls

    Because the soil is now clean enough to allow for any future use, 
no maintenance and monitoring of the soils remedy is required and no 
institutional controls are needed to restrict future property use.

2018 Five-Year Review

    EPA conducts reviews every five years to determine if remedies are 
functioning as intended and if they continue to be protective of human 
health and the environment. EPA issued the Fifth Five-Year Review 
Report on August 23, 2018, and concluded that the soil remediation is 
complete and the remedy at the Beckman Instruments Site is protective 
of human health and the environment. There were no issues or 
recommendations. The next five-year review, scheduled for 2023, will 
evaluate the groundwater remedy only.

Community Involvement

    EPA prepared a Community Involvement Plan in 1987 and updated it in 
1994.
    EPA held numerous community meetings before and during the Site 
cleanup and issued fact sheets, most of which focused on groundwater. 
EPA released two Proposed Plans, one for the ROD and one for the ROD 
Amendment. EPA released a fact sheet shortly before publication of this 
Notice informing the community of the proposal to delete the soil 
portion of the Site from the NPL and how to submit comments.

Determination That the Criteria for Deletion Have Been Met

    EPA has followed all procedures required by 40 CFR 300.425(e), 
Deletion from the NPL. EPA consulted with the State of California prior 
to developing this Notice. EPA determined that the responsible party 
has implemented all appropriate response actions required and that no 
further response action for the soil portion of the Site is 
appropriate. EPA is publishing a notice in a major local newspaper, The 
Porterville Recorder, of its intent to partially delete the Site and 
how to submit comments. EPA placed copies of documents supporting the 
proposed partial deletion in the Site information repositories; these 
documents are available for public inspection and copying.
    The implemented soil remedy achieved the degree of cleanup and 
protection specified in the ROD for the soil portion of the Site. The 
selected remedial action objectives and associated cleanup levels for 
the soil are consistent with agency policy and guidance. Based on 
information currently available to EPA, no further Superfund response 
in the area proposed for deletion is needed to protect human health and 
the environment.

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.

    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1321(d); 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657; E.O. 13626, 
77 FR 56749, 3 CFR, 2013 Comp., p.306; E.O. 12777, 56 FR 54757, 3 
CFR, 1991 Comp., p.351; E.O. 12580, 52 FR 2923, 3 CFR, 1987 Comp., 
p. 193.

    Dated: January 22, 2019.
Michael B. Stoker,
Regional Administrator, Region 9.
[FR Doc. 2019-02348 Filed 2-13-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P