[Federal Register Volume 90, Number 42 (Wednesday, March 5, 2025)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 11218-11220]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2025-03227]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0733; EPA-HQ-OLEM-2023-0602; EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0294; 
EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0326; FRL-12112-02-OLEM]


Deletion From the National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the 
deletion of one site and partial deletion of three sites from the 
Superfund National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL, created under 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 
States, through their designated State agencies, have determined that 
all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been completed. 
However, this deletion does not preclude future actions under 
Superfund.

DATES: The document is effective March 5, 2025.

ADDRESSES:  Docket: EPA has established a docket for this action under 
the Docket Identification included in Table 1 in the SUPPLEMENTARY 
INFORMATION section of this document. All documents in the docket are 
listed on the https://www.regulations.gov website. The Final Close-Out 
Report (FCOR, for a full site deletion) or the Partial Deletion 
Justification (PDJ, for a partial site deletion) is the primary 
document which summarizes site information to support the deletion. It 
is typically written for a broad, non-technical audience and this 
document is included in the deletion docket for each of the sites in 
this rulemaking. Although listed in the index, some information is not 
publicly available, i.e., Confidential Business Information or other 
information whose disclosure is restricted by statute. Certain other 
material, such as copyrighted material, is not placed on the internet 
and will be publicly available only in hard copy form. Docket materials 
are available through https://www.regulations.gov or at the 
corresponding Regional Records Centers. Locations, addresses, and phone 
numbers-of the Regional Records Center follows.

[[Page 11219]]

     Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI), U.S. EPA, 290 Broadway, New 
York, NY 10007-1866; 212/637-4308.
     Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, SC, TN), U.S. EPA, 61 
Forsyth Street SW, Mail code 9T25, Atlanta, GA 30303.
     Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, GU, AS, MP), U.S. EPA, 75 
Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105; 415/947-8000.
     EPA Headquarters Docket Center Reading Room (deletion 
dockets for all States), William Jefferson Clinton (WJC) West Building, 
Room 3334, 1301 Constitution Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20004, (202) 
566-1744.
    EPA staff listed below in the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT 
section may assist the public in answering inquiries about deleted 
sites, accessing deletion support documentation, and determining 
whether there are additional physical deletion dockets available.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
     Mabel Garcia, U.S. EPA Region 2 (NJ, NY, PR, VI), 
[email protected], 212/637-4356.
     Alayna Famble, U.S. EPA Region 4 (AL, FL, GA, KY, MS, NC, 
SC, TN), [email protected], 470/445-0744.
     Anhtu Nguyen, U.S. EPA Region 9 (AZ, CA, HI, NV, GU, AS, 
MP), [email protected], 415/972-3443.
     Charles Sands, U.S. EPA Headquarters, 
[email protected], 202/566-1142.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The NPL, created under section 105 of 
CERCLA, as amended, is an appendix of the NCP. 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. Partial deletion of sites is in accordance 
with 40 CFR 300.425(e) and are consistent with the Notice of Policy 
Change: Partial Deletion of Sites Listed on the National Priorities 
List, 60 FR 55466, (November 1, 1995). The sites to be deleted are 
listed in Table 1, including docket information containing reference 
documents with the rationale and data principally relied upon by the 
EPA to determine that the Superfund response is complete. The NCP 
permits activities to occur at a deleted site, or that media or parcel 
of a partially deleted site, including operation and maintenance of the 
remedy, monitoring, and five-year reviews. These activities for the 
site are entered in Table 1 in this SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION section, 
if applicable, under Footnote such that; 1 = site has continued 
operation and maintenance of the remedy, 2 = site receives continued 
monitoring, and 3 = site five-year reviews are conducted. As described 
in 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, a site or portion of a site deleted 
from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial action if 
future conditions warrant such actions.

                                                     Table 1
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
           Site name             City/county, state            Type               Docket No.         Footnote
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Del Amo........................  Los Angeles, CA...  Partial................  EPA-HQ-OLEM-2022-0  1, 3
                                                                               733.
Mercury Refining, Inc..........  Colonie, NY.......  Full...................  EPA-HQ-OLEM-2023-0  1, 2, 3
                                                                               602.
Lawrence Aviation Industries,    Port Jefferson      Partial................  EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0  1, 2, 3
 Inc.                             Station, NY.                                 294.
Redstone Arsenal (USARMY/NASA).  Huntsville, AL....  Partial................  EPA-HQ-OLEM-2024-0  1, 3
                                                                               594.
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    Information concerning the sites to be deleted and partially 
deleted from the NPL, and the proposed rule for the deletion and 
partial deletion of the sites, are included in Table 2.

                                                                         Table 2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                                                                                     Full site deletion
                                       Date,                                                                                          (full) or media/
             Site name                proposed           FR citation               Public comment          Responsiveness summary    parcels/description
                                        rule                                                                                        for partial deletion
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Del Amo...........................    8/16/2024  89 FR 66665...............  Yes.......................  Yes......................  Ten parcels and one
                                                                                                                                     road section
                                                                                                                                     located in Operable
                                                                                                                                     Unit 1.
Mercury Refining, Inc.............    8/16/2024  89 FR 66665...............  No........................  No.......................  Full.
Lawrence Aviation Industries, Inc.    8/16/2024  89 FR 66665...............  No........................  No.......................  125-acre land/soils
                                                                                                                                     portion of the Site
                                                                                                                                     and all groundwater
                                                                                                                                     not included in
                                                                                                                                     Figure 2 of the
                                                                                                                                     PDJ, which shows
                                                                                                                                     the remaining
                                                                                                                                     groundwater plume.
Redstone Arsenal (USARMY/NASA)....    8/16/2024  89 FR 66665...............  No........................  No.......................  Soils and sediments
                                                                                                                                     from Operable Unit
                                                                                                                                     8.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    For the sites proposed for deletion, the closing date for comments 
in the proposed rule was September 16, 2024. The EPA extended the 
public comment period for the proposed partial deletion of the Del Amo 
site until November 16, 2024. The EPA received five submissions for the 
Del Amo site, each with multiple comments. The EPA received no public 
comment for any of the other three sites in this final rule. The EPA 
prepared a Responsiveness Summary to address public comment for the Del 
Amo site partial deletion. The EPA placed the public submissions with 
comments and Responsiveness Summary for the Del Amo site in the docket 
specified in Table 1, on https://www.regulations.gov, and in the 
appropriate Regional Records Center listed in the ADDRESSES section.
    Commenters for the Del Amo site expressed concerns that portions of 
the site proposed for deletion still contain contamination. The EPA 
believes the portions of the site proposed for deletion from the NPL 
does not contain contamination exceeding residential risk screening 
levels, and the EPA is proposing to delete only the portions of the 
site where all appropriate response actions are completed, and cleanup 
goals met. The EPA clarified which areas are included in the proposed 
deletion, whether the areas included in the area proposed for deletion 
were

[[Page 11220]]

studied during the Remedial Investigation, and what work was performed 
at those portions of the site to clean them up. Other commenters 
expressed concern about groundwater contamination and operating 
groundwater remedies. The EPA wants to make clear that the proposed 
partial deletion will have no effect on the groundwater remedy, which 
is part of the Dual Site Groundwater Operable Unit for the Montrose 
Chemical and Del Amo Superfund Sites. The proposed partial deletion 
includes surface and subsurface soils, but not groundwater, for 
specified areas of Operable Unit 1 of the Del Amo site. Commenters 
requested information about how the Building Permit Review 
Institutional Control Layer 2 (Building Permit Review) works and 
expressed concern about how the EPA will protect against contaminated 
dust from the soil in the deleted parcels during construction and 
redevelopment. The EPA explained Institutional Control Layer 2 
(Building Permit Review) creates a process where building permits 
applications are reviewed by the Del Amo Environmental Review Team, who 
then prepares and submits a Screening Evaluation Summary Report. The 
Screening Evaluation Summary Report, which is reviewed and approved by 
the EPA, includes an evaluation of the potential for exposure to 
impacted material during performance of the construction project based 
on existing environmental data, locations and documented historic 
information concerning types of former rubber plant facilities and 
their operation, and findings from previously issued reports, as well 
as recommendations for mitigating risks as applicable. Commenters also 
expressed concerns that the Institutional Controls are insufficient to 
protect trench workers who may encounter contaminated soil at depth in 
the deleted portions of the Site. The EPA has investigated 
concentrations of chemicals of concern within the soil in the site area 
proposed for deletion and determined that concentrations of the 
chemicals of concern within the soil do not present a risk to human 
health or the environment under a residential use or worker scenario. 
In addition, out of an abundance of caution, Institutional Control 
Layers 1 and 2 will remain in place following the partial deletion. 
Keeping them in place helps ensure current and future owners and 
tenants are aware of the site's history. All these comments were 
carefully considered in the EPA's final decision to delete a portion of 
the Del Amo Site from the NPL. The EPA is proceeding with the partial 
deletion action as originally proposed.
    Thus, the EPA concluded the deletion criteria for all four sites 
were met and documented in the specified dockets, and that the 
specified deletion actions from the NPL can proceed.
    The EPA maintains the NPL as the list of sites that appear to 
present a significant risk to public health, welfare, or the 
environment. Deletion from the NPL does not preclude further remedial 
action. 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. Deletion of a site from the 
NPL does not affect responsible party liability in the unlikely event 
that future conditions warrant further actions.

List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300

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

    Dated: February 7, 2025.
Larry Douchand,
Office Director, Office of Superfund Remediation and Technology 
Innovation.

    For reasons set out in the preamble, the EPA amends 40 CFR part 300 
as follows:

PART 300--NATIONAL OIL AND HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES POLLUTION 
CONTINGENCY PLAN

0
1. The authority citation for part 300 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.; 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 mp., p. 351; E.O. 12580, 52 FR 2923, 3 CFR, 1987 
Comp., p. 193.


0
2. In Appendix B to part 300 amend Table 1 by:
0
a. Revising the entry for ``CA'', ``Del Amo'', ``Los Angeles''.
0
b. Revising the entry for ``NY'', ``Lawrence Aviation Industries, 
Inc.'', ``Port Jefferson Station''.
0
c. Removing the entry for ``NY'', ``Mercury Refining, Inc'', 
``Colonie''.
    The revisions read as follows:

Appendix B to Part 300--National Priorities List

                                       Table 1--General Superfund Section
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             State                        Site name                 City/county                Notes (a)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
CA............................  Del Amo.....................  Los Angeles............  P
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
NY............................  Lawrence Aviation, Inc......  Port Jefferson Station.  P
 
                                                  * * * * * * *
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* P = Sites with partial deletion(s).

[FR Doc. 2025-03227 Filed 3-4-25; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P