[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]
[[Page 4033]]
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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