[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 154 (Monday, August 10, 2020)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 48132-48134]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-16860]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-SFUND-1983-0002; FRL-10012-98-Region 8]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List: Partial Deletion the Anaconda Co. Smelter 
Superfund Site

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Proposed rule; notice of intent.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 8 is issuing 
a Notice of Intent to Delete the Beryllium Operable Unit 9 (OU9), the 
Flue Dust OU11 and the Arbiter OU12 of the Anaconda Co. Smelter 
Superfund Site (Site) located in Anaconda, MT, 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

[[Page 48133]]

Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP). The EPA and the 
State of Montana, through the Department of Environmental Quality 
(MDEQ), have determined that all appropriate response actions at these 
identified parcels 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.
    This partial deletion pertains to three Operable Units; the 
Beryllium (OU9), the Flue Dust (OU11) and the Arbiter (OU12). The other 
areas of the Site will remain on the NPL and are not being considered 
for deletion as part of this action.

DATES: Comments must be received by September 9, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Submit your comments, identified by Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-
SFUND-1983-0002, by one of the following methods:
     https://www.regulations.gov. Follow on-line instructions 
for submitting comments. Once submitted, comments cannot be edited or 
removed from Regulations.gov. The 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. The 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: Charles Coleman at [email protected].
     Phone: Public comment by phone may be made by calling 
(406) 457-5038 and following the directions provided for public 
comment.
     Written comments submitted by mail are temporarily 
suspended and no hand deliveries will be accepted. We encourage the 
public to submit comments via https://www.regulations.gov.
    Instructions: Direct your comments to Docket ID no. EPA-HQ-SFUND-
1983-0002. EPA's policy is that all comments received will be included 
in the public docket without change and may be made available online at 
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 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 electronically 
in https://www.regulations.gov.
    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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Charles Coleman, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8, 10 West 15th 
Street, Suite 3200, Helena, Montana 59626, (406) 457-5038, email: 
[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 8 announces its intent to delete three Operable Units of 
the Anaconda Co. Smelter Superfund Site (Site); the Beryllium (OU9), 
the Flue Dust (OU11) and the Arbiter (OU12), from the National 
Priorities List (NPL) and request 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 as those 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). This partial 
deletion of the three Operable Units of the Anaconda Co. Smelter 
Superfund Site (Site); the Beryllium (OU9), the Flue Dust (OU11) and 
the Arbiter (OU12), 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 (November 1, 
1995). As described in 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, a portion of a site 
deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial action 
if future conditions warrant such actions.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to partially delete this 
site for thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the 
Federal Register.
    Section II of this preamble explains the criteria for deleting 
sites from the NPL. Section III of this preamble discusses procedures 
that EPA is using for this action. Section IV of this preamble 
discusses where to access and review information that demonstrates how 
the deletion criteria have been met for the Beryllium (OU9), the Flue 
Dust (OU11) and the Arbiter (OU12) of the Anaconda Co. Smelter 
Superfund Site

[[Page 48134]]

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. 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 Beryllium (OU9), 
the Flue Dust (OU11) and the Arbiter (OU12) of the Site:
    (1) The EPA consulted with the State before developing this Notice 
of Intent for Partial Deletion.
    (2) The EPA has provided the state 30 working days for review of 
this action 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 Montana, through the MDEQ, has concurred with the 
deletion of the the Beryllium (OU9), the Flue Dust (OU11) and the 
Arbiter (OU12) of the Anaconda Co. Smelter 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 the Anaconda Leader and Montana Standard. The newspaper announces 
the 30-day public comment period concerning the Notice of Intent for 
Partial Deletion of the Site from the NPL.
    (6) The EPA placed copies of documents supporting the proposed 
partial deletion in the deletion docket, 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 
action, EPA will evaluate and respond accordingly to the comments 
before making a final decision to delete the Beryllium (OU9), the Flue 
Dust (OU11) and the Arbiter (OU12). 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 Beryllium (OU9), the Flue Dust (OU11) 
and the Arbiter (OU12) of the Anaconda Co. Smelter 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 EPA placed copies of 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 it meets 
the 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.

    Dated: July 29, 2020.
Gregory Sopkin,
Regional Administrator, Region 8.
[FR Doc. 2020-16860 Filed 8-7-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P