[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 121 (Tuesday, June 23, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37617-37619]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-12826]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008; FRL-10010-65-Region 5]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List: Partial Deletion of the Douglass Road/
Uniroyal, Inc. Landfill Superfund Site

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; notification of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 5 is issuing 
a Notification of Intent to Delete the OU1--Landfill Cap Area of the 
Douglass [sic] Road/Uniroyal, Inc. Landfill Superfund Site (Douglas 
Road Site or Site) located in Mishawaka, Indiana, 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). The EPA and the 
State of Indiana, through the Indiana Department of Environmental 
Management (IDEM), have determined that all appropriate response 
actions under CERCLA, other than operation and maintenance, monitoring, 
and five-year reviews, have been completed. However, this deletion does 
not preclude future actions under Superfund.

DATES: Comments must be received by July 23, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-
SFUND-1989-0008, by one of the following methods:
    https://www.regulations.gov. Follow the on-line 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 (CBI) 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://www.epa.gov/dockets/commenting-epa-dockets.
    Email: [email protected].
    Written comments submitted by mail are temporarily suspended and no 
hand deliveries will be accepted. We encourage the public to submit 
comments via email or at https://www.regulations.gov.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-
1989-0008. 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 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

[[Page 37618]]

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, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008. 
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 electronically at https://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008 and at 
https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&id=0501696 or you may contact the 
person identified in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section for 
additional availability information.
    The EPA is temporarily suspending its Docket Center and Regional 
Records Centers for public visitors to reduce the risk of transmitting 
COVID-19. In addition, many site information repositories are closed 
and information in these repositories, including the deletion docket, 
has not been updated with hardcopy or electronic media. For further 
information and updates on EPA Docket Center services, please visit us 
online at https://www.epa.gov/dockets.
    The EPA continues to carefully and continuously monitor information 
from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), local area 
health departments, and our Federal partners so that we can respond 
rapidly as conditions change regarding COVID-19.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Karen Cibulskis, NPL Deletion 
Coordinator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Region 5 at (312) 
886-1843, or via email at [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    EPA Region 5 announces its intent to delete OU1--Landfill Cap Area 
of the Douglas Road 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 NCP. EPA promulgated the NCP pursuant to Section 105 
of CERCLA of 1980, as amended. EPA maintains the NPL as the 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 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the 
NPL remain eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions if future 
conditions warrant such actions. The Operable Unit 2 (OU2)--the 
groundwater portion of the Site will remain on the NPL and is not being 
considered for deletion as part of this action.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete OU1 of the 
Douglas Road 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 that EPA is 
using for this action. Section IV discusses where to access and review 
information that demonstrates how the deletion criteria have been met 
at OU1 of the Douglas Road Site.

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, or portions 
thereof, 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. 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 OU1--Landfill Cap 
Area of the Douglas Road Site from the NPL:
    (1) EPA consulted with the State of Indiana prior to developing 
this Notification of Intent for Partial Deletion.
    (2) EPA has provided the State thirty (30) working days for review 
of this document prior to publication of it today.
    (3) In accordance with the criteria discussed above, EPA has 
determined that no further response is appropriate for OU1--Landfill 
Cap Area of the Site.
    (4) The State of Indiana, through the IDEM, concurred with deletion 
of OU1--Landfill Cap Area of the Douglas Road Site from the NPL on May 
12, 2020.
    (5) Concurrently with the publication of this Notification of 
Intent for Partial Deletion in the Federal Register, an announcement of 
the availability of the Notification of Intent for Partial Deletion is 
being published in a major local newspaper, the South Bend Tribune. The 
newspaper notice announces the 30-day public comment period concerning 
the Notification of Intent for Partial Deletion of the Douglas Road 
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 https://www.regulations.gov, Docket ID 
No. EPA-HQ-SFUND-1989-0008 and on the EPA's Douglas Road Site web page 
at https://cumulis.epa.gov/supercpad/SiteProfiles/index.cfm?fuseaction=second.docdata&id=0501696.
    If comments are received within the 30-day public comment period on 
this document, EPA will evaluate and respond appropriately to the 
comments before making a final decision to delete OU1--Landfill Cap 
Area of the Douglas Road Site from the NPL. 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 OU1 of the Douglas Road Site from the 
NPL, the EPA will publish a final Notification 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 in the docket listed above.

[[Page 37619]]

    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 or a portion 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 EPA placed copies of a Site-Specific Justification for the 
Partial Deletion from the NPL of Operable Unit 1--Landfill Cap Area of 
the Douglas Road/Uniroyal, Inc. Landfill Superfund Site and other 
documents supporting the proposed partial deletion in the deletion 
docket. The material provides explanation of EPA's rationale for the 
partial deletion and demonstrates how OU1--Landfill Cap Area of the 
Douglas Road Site meets the NPL deletion criteria. This information is 
made available for public inspection in the docket identified above.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

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

    Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.; 42 U.S.C. 9601-9675; 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: June 9, 2020.
Kurt Thiede,
Regional Administrator, Region 5.
[FR Doc. 2020-12826 Filed 6-22-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P