[Federal Register Volume 62, Number 158 (Friday, August 15, 1997)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43684-43686]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 97-21380]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5874-3]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Northwest Transformer South Harkness 
Street site from the National Priorities List Update; request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10, 
announces its intent to delete the Northwest Transformer South Harkness 
Street Site in Everson, Washington, from the National Priorities List 
(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 and the State of Washington Department of Ecology (Ecology) have 
determined that the Site poses no significant threat to public health 
or the environment and, therefore, further remedial measures pursuant 
to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before 
September 15, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Timothy H. Brincefield, 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop ECL-111, 
Seattle, WA 98101.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region 10 public docket which is available for viewing at the NW 
Transformer South Harkness Site information repositories at the 
following locations:

Whatcom County Public Library, Kirsch Drive, Everson, Washington 98247.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10, Office of 
Environmental Cleanup--Records Center, Attn: Bob Phillips, 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Mail Stop ECL-110, Seattle, Washington 98101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Timothy H. Brincefield, U.S. EPA 
Region 10, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop ECL-111, Seattle, Washington 
98101, (206) 553-2100.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis of Intended Site Deletion

I. Introduction

    The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10 announces its 
intent to delete a site from the National Priorities List (NPL), 
Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution 
Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300, and requests comments to this 
deletion. EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear to present a 
significant risk to human health or the environment. As described in 
section 300.425(e)(3)of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain 
eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions in the unlikely event that 
conditions at the site warrant such actions.
    EPA plans to delete the Northwest Transformer South Harkness Street 
Site (``Site'') at 107 South Harkness Street, Everson Washington, from 
the NPL.
    EPA will accept comments on the plan to delete this Site for thirty 
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 South Harkness Street Site 
and explains how the Site meets deletion criteria.

[[Page 43685]]

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425 (e) of the NCP provides that ``releases'' (sites) 
may be deleted from, or recategorized on, the NPL where no further 
response is appropriate. In making a determination to delete a site 
from the NPL, EPA shall consider, in consultation with the state, 
whether any of the following criteria have been met:
    (i) Responsible parties or other parties have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented, and no further 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, taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.
    Even if a site is deleted from the NPL, where hazardous substances, 
pollutants or contaminants remain at the site above levels that allow 
for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure, EPA's policy is that a 
subsequent review of the site will be conducted at least every five 
years after the initiation of the remedial action at the site to ensure 
that the site remains protective of public health and the environment. 
In the case of the South Harkness Street Site, some hazardous 
substances were left on-Site, therefore, the five-year review 
requirement of section 121(c) of SARA remains applicable. If new 
information becomes available that indicates a need for further action, 
EPA may require remedial actions. Whenever there is a significant 
release from a site deleted from the NPL, the site may be restored to 
the NPL without the application of the Hazard Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of 
this Site: (1) The September 29, 1994 ROD included language that 
documented the achievement of cleanup goals and the fact that no 
separate close out report was necessary; (2) The Washington Department 
Of Ecology (Ecology) has concurred with the proposed deletion decision; 
(3) A notice has been published in the local newspaper and has been 
distributed to appropriate Federal, State, and local officials and 
other interested parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public 
comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete; and, (4) All 
relevant documents have been made available for public review in the 
Site information repositories.
    Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter or 
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for information purposes to assist EPA management. As 
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) states 
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for 
future Fund-financed response actions.
    EPA's Regional Office will accept and evaluate public comments on 
EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before making a final decision. The 
Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary if any significant public 
comments are received.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect 
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local 
residents by EPA's Regional Office in Seattle, Washington.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following Site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
intention to delete this Site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    The South Harkness Superfund Site was a former transformer 
manufacturing, service and reclamation facility located in a 
commercial/residential area of downtown Everson, Washington. The site 
is located in downtown Everson and is bordered by a City Park, Main 
Street businesses, and South Harkness Street. An alley runs through the 
site.
    The 1-acre facility was operated by the NW Transformer Service 
Company from 1958 until 1987. The Company used a building on-site to 
manufacture, recycle and rebuild transformers and an unpaved lot for 
storage of transformers, drums, bulk materials and salvage. The Company 
transferred its main storage and salvage operations from its Mission 
and Pole Roads salvage yard, which is also on the NPL, to the South 
Harkness Street site in 1985. An Ecology inspection in 1985 detected 
high levels of polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in on-site soils.
    The facility was added to the NPL in 1990 due to PCB and metals 
contamination in the building and soils. No site-related groundwater 
contamination has ever been detected and there are no drinking water 
wells down gradient from the site.

B. History

    The following is a brief summary of the site investigation, removal 
action, recent sampling results, and current conditions:
    <bullet> Since the site is small and contaminant levels relatively 
low, it was addressed with a streamlined approach. The Potentially 
Responsible Parties (PRPs) agreed on 6/17/92 to perform the necessary 
Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study and a removal action if 
necessary.
    <bullet> Field Investigations started in January 1993. No 
contaminants of concern were found in groundwater at the site. The 
primary contaminants of concern were PCBs (up to 89 ppm in soils and 
structural materials) and Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (TPH) up to 
63,000 ppm in underlying soils.
    <bullet> The possibility of significant contamination of the 
Nooksack River and sediments was determined to be unlikely. The air 
pathway was also ruled out as a pathway of significant concern.
    <bullet> After review of an Engineering Evaluation and Cost 
Analysis of removal alternatives, EPA issued a proposed plan for a 
removal to eliminate the risk of the building collapsing, to provide 
additional data for the RI and risk assessment, and to remediate the 
site in accordance with remedial requirements if possible.
    <bullet> The removal was performed between November 1993 and June 
1994. The site now consists of two modified asphalt parking lots and an 
alley covering about four feet of clean soil. In most locations PCB 
concentrations are less than 1 ppm. Two locations show evidence of low-
level PCB contaminations at depth beneath the clean soil and asphalt 
cap (7 ppm at 6 feet below the ground surface and 28 ppm at 12.5 feet).
    <bullet> TPH is also present in soils beneath the cap/parking lots, 
at levels up to 24,000 ppm. In accordance with additional State 
requirements documented in the CERCLA No Further Action ROD, the owners 
of the affected properties have recorded notices on their deeds 
acknowledging the presence of contamination and their duty, and that of 
subsequent property owners, to sample soils if the cap is disturbed and 
if soils are found to be contaminated, to dispose of them in accordance 
with State and Federal Law.
    <bullet> In four years of ground water sampling no detectible 
quantities of PCBs or TPH have been found. Data from three rounds of 
groundwater sampling prior to the Removal Action show that no chemicals 
of concern were detected in site groundwater samples above maximum 
contaminant levels for drinking. Post-RA groundwater sampling for Site-
related contaminants (PCBs and TPH) was conducted in November 1994, 
March 1995, July 1995,

[[Page 43686]]

October 1995, and October 1996. No chemical compounds of concern 
related to the site were detected in these groundwater samples.
    <bullet> EPA oversight sampling since the Removal Action has 
identified the presence of Pentachlorophenol in some groundwater 
samples, however no evidence of Pentachlorophenol was ever identified 
at the site during site inspections, field investigations, the Removal 
Action, or post-removal confirmation sampling. EPA has provided Ecology 
with these results and the Agencies have agreed that EPA will continue 
efforts to identify the source and potential impacts of the 
Pentachlorophenol, but that since there is no evidence to date that the 
Pentachlorophenol is site-related, its detection should not preclude 
deletion of this site from the NPL. Note that deleted sites remain 
eligible for future Fund-financed response actions should future 
conditions warrant such action, and whenever there is a significant 
release from a site or portion of a site deleted from the NPL, the site 
or portion may be restored to the NPL without application of the Hazard 
Ranking System.
    <bullet> EPA sees no reason to require continued annual ground 
water monitoring for PCBs, although periodic monitoring to support 
five-year reviews may still be appropriate. TPH is being addressed as 
an additional state requirement, which the Washington Department of 
Ecology will determine whether or not to continue.

C. Characterization of Risk

    <bullet> The risk assessment was done subsequent to the Removal 
Action, and documented that current and future potential risks posed by 
the site are within the acceptable risk range of 10<SUP>-5</SUP> or 
less. There is no current pathway for human exposure since all soil 
contamination has been removed and/or capped and no site-related 
contaminants of concern have been detected in groundwater. Because site 
risks were so low, EPA determined that no feasibility study was 
necessary and no other alternatives were considered or evaluated.
    <bullet> The site remains a useful parking lot, serving downtown 
Everson, including the Senior Center and City Hall.

D. Public Participation

    Community input has been sought by EPA Region 10 throughout the 
cleanup process at the Site. An information repository was established 
and has been maintained at the Everson Public Library. Fact sheets and 
public notices were distributed when the site was placed on the NPL in 
1990, when Notice Letters were sent to the PRPs in December 1991, when 
the Removal Action was proposed in August 1993, and at several other 
times.
    A public comment period was held from August 16 to September 15, 
1993 on the proposed removal action. At that time the public was 
informed that if the Removal Action was successful, no further action 
would likely be necessary. EPA issued a Proposed Plan calling for No 
Further Action on August 24, 1994, and held a public comment period 
from August 26 to September 26, 1994. A fact sheet and two public 
notices of the Plan were issued by EPA, but EPA received no public 
comments on the Proposed Plan.
    A copy of the Deletion Docket can be reviewed by the public at the 
Everson Public Library, or the EPA Region 10 Superfund Records Center. 
The Deletion Docket includes this Notice, the ROD, Amended ROD, 
Remedial Action Construction Report, and Final Site Close-Out Report. 
EPA Region 10 will also announce the availability of the Deletion 
Docket for public review in a local newspaper and informational fact 
sheet.
    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``responsible parties or other persons 
have implemented all appropriate response actions required.'' EPA, with 
the concurrence of Ecology, believes that this criterion for deletion 
has been met. Groundwater and soil data from the Site confirm that the 
ROD cleanup goals have been achieved. There is no significant threat to 
human health or the environment and, therefore, no further remedial 
action is necessary. Consequently, EPA is proposing deletion of this 
Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action are available in 
the docket at the information repositories.

    Dated: August 4, 1997.
Randall F. Smith,
Acting Regional Administrator.
[FR Doc. 97-21380 Filed 8-14-97; 8:45 am]
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