52072 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 193 / Monday, October 6, 1997 / Proposed Rules

Air and Radiation Docket and

Information Center, Environmental

Protection Agency, 401 M Street, SW.,

Washington, DC 20460.

Environmental Protection Agency,

Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue, Suite

1200, Dallas, Texas 75202.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr.

Kurt Sonderman, Air Planning Section

(6PD–L), Environmental Protection

Agency, Region 6, 1445 Ross Avenue,

Suite 1200, Dallas, Texas, 75202,

telephone (214) 665–7205.

Dated: September 29, 1997.

Myron O. Knudson,

Acting Regional Administrator.

[FR Doc. 97–26440 Filed 10–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL–5899–9]

National Oil and Hazardous

Substances Pollution Contingency

Plan; National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA).

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete

Monsanto Superfund Site from the

National Priorities List (NPL): Request

for Comments.

SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection

Agency (EPA), Region 4 announces its

intent to delete the Monsanto 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 of 1980 (CERCLA). EPA and the

State of Georgia (State) have determined

that all appropriate CERCLA actions

have been implemented and that no

further cleanup by responsible parties is

appropriate under CERCLA. Moreover,

EPA and the state have determined that

remedial activities conducted at the site

to date have been protective of public

health, welfare, and the environment

and that the remaining groundwater

monitoring and treatment are

adequately being addressed by the State

under the Resource Conservation and

Recovery Act (RCRA).

DATES: Comments concerning the

proposed deletion of this Site will be

accepted until November 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed

to: John A. McKeown, Remedial Project

Manager, South Site Management

Branch, Waste Management Division,

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W.,

Atlanta, GA 30303.

Comprehensive information on this

Site is available through the EPA Region

4 public docket, which is located at

EPA’s Region 4 office and is available

for viewing by appointment only from

9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through

Friday, excluding holidays. Requests for

appointments or copies of the

background information from the

regional public docket should be

directed to the EPA Region 4 Docket

Office.

The address for the Regional Docket

Office is: Ms. Debbie Jourdan, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency,

Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W.,

Atlanta, Georgia 30303, Telephone No.:

(404) 562–8862.

Background information from the

regional public docket is also available

for viewing at the Site information

repository located at the following

address: Augusta Richmond County

Public Library, 902 Green Street,

Augusta, Georgia 30901, Telephone No.:

(706) 821–2600.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John

A. McKeown, Remedial Project

Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Region 4, 61 Forsyth Street,

S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303, (404) 562–

8913.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

III. Deletion Procedures

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

I. Introduction

EPA announces its intent to delete the

Monsanto Superfund Site, in Richmond

County, Georgia from the National

Priorities List (NPL) which constitutes

Appendix B on the National Oil and

Hazardous Substances Pollution

Contingency Plan (NCP), and requests

comments on this proposed deletion.

EPA identifies sites that appear to

present a significant risk to public

health, welfare, or the environment and

maintains the NPL as the list of those

sites. Sites on the NPL may be the

subject of remedial actions financed by

the Hazardous Substances Superfund

Response Trust Fund (Fund). Pursuant

to § 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site

deleted from the NPL remains eligible

for Fund-financed Remedial Actions in

the event that conditions at the site

warrant such action. EPA will accept

comments concerning this Site for thirty

(30) calendar days after publication of

this document in the Federal Register.

Section II of this document explains

the criteria for the deletion of sites from

the NPL. Section III discusses

procedures that EPA is using for this

action. Section IV discusses how the

Site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

The NCP establishes the criteria that

the EPA uses to delete sites from the

NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR

300.425(e). releases may be deleted from

the NPL where no further response is

appropriate. In making this

determination, 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;

or

(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

determined that the release poses no

significant threat to public health or the

environment and, therefore, taking or

remedial measures is not appropriate; or

(iv) The site is a regulated treatment,

storage, or disposal facility (TSD)

regulated under the authority of the

Resource Conservation and Recovery

Act (RCRA).

Pursuant to § 300.425(e)(3) of the

NCP, any site deleted from the NPL

remains eligible for Fund-financed

Remedial Actions in the event that

conditions at the site warrant such

action.

III. Deletion Procedures

EPA will accept and evaluate public

comments before making a final

decision to delete. Comments from the

local community may be the most

pertinent to deletion decisions. The

following procedures were used for the

intended deletion of this Site:

(1) EPA has recommended deletion

and has prepared the relevant

documents.

(2) The State has concurred with the

deletion decision.

(3) A local notice has been published

in local newspapers and has been

distributed to appropriate federal, state,

and local officials, and other interested

parties.

(4) EPA has made all relevant

documents available in the Regional

Office and local site information

repository.

Deletion of a site from the NPL does

not itself, create, alter, or revoke any
Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 193 / Monday, October 6, 1997 / Proposed Rules 52073

individual rights or obligations. The

NPL is designated primarily for

information purposes and to assist EPA

management. As mentioned in Section

II of this document, 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.

Any comments received during the

notice and comment period will be

evaluated before the final decision to

delete. EPA will prepare a

Responsiveness Summary, if necessary,

which will address any comments

received during the public comment

period.

A deletion occurs after the EPA

Region 4 Regional Administrator places

a document in the Federal Register. The

NPL will reflect any deletions in the

next final update. Public notices and

copies of the Responsiveness Summary

will be made available to local residents

by Region 4.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

The Monsanto Superfund site is

located approximately three miles

southeast of Augusta, Georgia. The site

is bordered on the north by Marvin

Griffin Road, on the east by the Norfolk

and Southern railroad, on the south by

Butler Creek and on the west by other

industrial properties. Phinizy Swamp is

located approximately 4,570 feet

northeast of the site. The Monsanto

plant covers approximately 75 acres.

Within the plant’s boundary, there are

two landfills covering 0.2 acres that

were used to dispose of phosphoric acid

sludge. The landfills are located along

the eastern boundary of the Monsanto

plant property. The site is located in an

industrial park which is zoned for heavy

industrial use. Within a three mile

radius of the site, land is zoned

commercial, residential and industrial.

The nearest residential area is one-half

mile northwest of the site. Surface

elevations across the site range from 140

to 146 feet above Mean Sea Level (MSL).

The Monsanto-Augusta Plant has been

in operation since 1962. From 1966 to

1974, two landfills (0.1 acre each),

approximately six feet deep, were used

to dispose of solid waste and sludges

which contain arsenic trisulfide.

Arsenic trisulfide is a waste resulting

from the preparation of food grade

phosphoric acid. Plant officials estimate

approximately 1500 pounds of arsenic

were placed in these landfills. In 1971,

Landfill #1 was covered with soil,

crowned with gravel and seeded with

grass. In 1977, Landfill #2 was closed by

Monsanto in the same manner as

Landfill #1.

The site was first identified by the

Georgia Environmental Protection

Division (EPD) in August 1975. In June

1979, Monsanto, under the supervision

of the EPD, began monitoring the quality

of the groundwater south of the site. In

February 1980, at the request of EPD,

Monsanto installed additional

monitoring wells and collected twentythree soil samples on the site. The

groundwater monitoring program

revealed arsenic levels in the surficial

aquifer exceeding the Maximum

Contaminant Level (MCL) for arsenic of

.05 mg/l.

During November 1983, Monsanto,

under the supervision of EPD, excavated

the waste from both of the landfills. The

material excavated from the landfills

was transported to a RCRA permitted

landfill in Emelle, Alabama. After the

contents of the landfills were removed,

soil samples were collected from the

bottom of the excavated area and tested

for Extraction Procedure (EP) toxicity

for arsenic and other metals. EP toxicity

is a test used to identify wastes that are

likely to leach hazardous concentrations

of toxic substances and to determine if

a contaminant is a characteristic

hazardous waste. The soil from the

bottom of the excavated area did not

exceed the EP toxicity standard for

arsenic of 5.0 ppm.

In September of 1984, the Monsanto

site was added to the National Priorities

List (NPL). In September of 1986,

Georgia EPD requested EPA to initiate a

delisting process. This request was

based on RCRA permitting at the site

and the site’s status as a Treatment,

Storage and Disposal (TSD) facility.

Later, in 1989, a RCRA permit for the

facility was approved by the Georgia

EPD.

On January 18, 1989, EPA issued a

special notice letter to Monsanto to give

Monsanto the opportunity to conduct,

with EPA oversight, the Remedial

Investigation (RI) and Feasibility Study

(FS). Monsanto entered into an

Administrative Order on Consent for

performance of the RI/FS, with an

effective date of April 27, 1989.

Fieldwork for the RI was initiated by

Monsanto in October 1989 and

completed in January 1990. The final RI

report was accepted by EPA on August

20, 1990. The FS report was submitted

to EPA by Monsanto on September 16,

1990.

On December 7, 1990, the Regional

Administrator signed a Record of

Decision (ROD) selecting the following

remedy:

• Continued quarterly monitoring of

the surficial aquifer groundwater to

evaluate compliance with groundwater

protection achievement levels (GPALs)

and drinking water standard or MCL of

50 μg/l through natural attenuation. If

monitoring results indicated

noncompliance with these standards, a

contingency remedy of pumping the

contaminated ground water and

discharging to the Publicly Owned

Treatment Works (POTW) would be

initiated.

The performance standard for arsenic

in groundwater is the reduction to the

MCL of 50 μg/l through natural

attenuation and meeting of interim

GPALs resulting in attainment of the

MCL. This remedy and the contingency

remedy addressed environmental

concerns presented by the contaminated

groundwater and eliminated the

principal threats posed by this media.

The contingency remedy was initiated

in May of 1992 upon non-attainment of

the performance standards for natural

attenuation. Sampling results, verified

by EPA, determined that arsenic was

present at levels above ROD specified

performance standards in several

shallow water monitoring wells.

The contingency remedy was formally

initiated on December 30, 1992, upon

EPA’s approval of the Remedial Design.

Construction was accomplished by the

Monsanto Corporation under the

provisions of a consent decree.

Monsanto’s contractor, Dames and

Moore, began work in February of 1993.

EPA and the Georgia Environmental

Protection Division conducted a final

inspection on April 16, 1993 and on

May 5, 1993, the Region IV Waste

Management Division Director approved

the Preliminary Closeout Report which

documents construction completion.

Two extraction wells and piping for

discharge into the POTW were

constructed as part of the Remedial

Design. Due to the relatively low levels

of arsenic contamination, the arsenic

concentration was less than the POTW’s

pretreatment standard of 1 mg/l.

Groundwater extraction and discharge,

was initiated on a quarterly basis and

will continue until the arsenic

performance standard of 50 μg/l is met

for a period of 6 months or 2 monitoring

periods.

Since the Remedial Action was

initiated in 1993, significant reduction

in the arsenic concentration levels in

the groundwater has been achieved.

Quarterly sampling reports, along with

monthly progress reports and

appropriate technical memorandums

documenting any modification have

been submitted by Monsanto to EPA as

specified in the 1991 Record of

Decision. The same information is

submitted to the Georgia EPD in

compliance with Monsanto’s Hazardous

Waste Facility Permit HW–074(S) under

the authority of the Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
52074 Federal Register / Vol. 62, No. 193 / Monday, October 6, 1997 / Proposed Rules

The Federal Register published on

March 20, 1995 at 60 FR 14641,

announced a notice of policy statement

entitled ‘‘The National Priorities List for

Uncontrolled Hazardous Waste Sties;

Deletion Policy for Resource

Conservation and Recovery Act

Facilities’’. According to the notice, a

National Priorities List site may be

eligible for deletion based upon deferral

to RCRA corrective action authorities if

a site satisfies the following four

criteria:

1. If evaluated under EPA’s current

RCRA/NPL deferral policy, the site

would be eligible for deferral from

listing on the NPL.

2. The CERCLA site is currently being

addressed by RCRA corrective action

authorities under an existing

enforceable order or permit containing

corrective action provisions.

3. Response under RCRA is

progressing adequately.

4. Deletion would not disrupt an

ongoing CERCLA response action.

The first criterion requires that the

site meet requirements of eligibility for

RCRA/NPL deferral. The RCRA/NPL

deferral policy as cited in the March 20,

1995 Federal Register provides that

RCRA facilities subject to RCRA Subtitle

C corrective action requirements may be

deferred from listing on the NPL.

Monsanto’s Hazardous Waste Facility

Permit HW–074(S) contains HSWA

provisions for the investigation and

corrective action of releases from solid

waste management units and provides

conditions for corrective action of

contaminated groundwater. Thus, the

facility is and will be subject to Subpart

C corrective action requirements until

cleanup of contamination is complete.

The second criterion requires that the

site be addressed by RCRA corrective

action authorities under an existing

permit or order. Hazardous Waste

Facility Permit HW–074(S) was issued

to the Monsanto Company by the

Georgia EPD’s Hazardous Waste

Management Branch in August of 1989

and subsequently modified in

September of 1991 to incorporate the

corrective action of contaminated

groundwater resulting from the disposal

of the Arsenic trisulfide sludge in the

two onsite landfills. Requirements

stated within the corrective action

permit are consistent with the remedy

stated in the 1991 CERCLA Record of

Decision.

The third criterion evaluates whether

response under RCRA is progressing

adequately. This criterion is met with a

letter dated 27 May 1997 from Mr. Jim

Ussery, Program Manager of the Georgia

EPD’s Hazardous Waste Management

Branch to Mr. Mario Villamarzo of EPA.

The contents of the letter indicate that

corrective action has been effective in

remediating contamination and that

Monsanto has been very cooperative

and pro-active in meeting the

requirements of their corrective action

permit.

The fourth criterion evaluates

whether deletion of a site from the NPL

would disrupt an on-going CERCLA

response. The groundwater cleanup that

is occurring under CERCLA is

essentially the same as the RCRA

Corrective Action Program, therefore,

delisting would not disrupt any ongoing

CERCLA response action.

In summary, the Monsanto Superfund

site easily meets all the criteria for

deletion from the NPL based on RCRA

deferral. This site is being addressed

adequately under the Hazardous Waste

Facility Permit enforced by the Georgia

EPD. All parties involved approve of

this action (see attached Documentation

Record) which will have no adverse

affects to any ongoing groundwater

extraction or monitoring scheduled to

take place at the Monsanto Superfund

site. Since all waste has been removed

from the site, a five year review will not

be required in the future.

EPA, with concurrence of the Georgia

Environmental Protection Division, has

determined that all appropriate

response under the Comprehensive

Environmental Response Compensation

and Liability Act have been completed,

and that no further action by

responsible parties is necessary.

Therefore, EPA proposes to delete the

Site from the NPL and requests public

comments on the proposed deletion.

Dated: September 15, 1997.

Phyllis P. Harris,

Acting Regional Administrator, U.S.

Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4.

[FR Doc. 97–26193 Filed 10–3–97; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560–50–P

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION

AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL–5898–1]

National Oil and Hazardous

Substances Pollution Contingency

Plan; National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection

Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent for partial

deletion of the Prewitt Abandoned

Refinery Superfund Site from the

National Priorities List.

SUMMARY: The United States

Environmental Protection Agency

(‘‘EPA’’) Region 6 announces its intent

to delete the surface portion of the

Prewitt Abandoned Refinery Superfund

Site (‘‘Site’’) from the National Priorities

List (‘‘NPL’’) and requests public

comment on this action. The NPL

constitutes Appendix B to the National

Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution

Contingency Plan (‘‘NCP’’), 40 CFR part

300, which EPA promulgated pursuant

to Section 105 of the Comprehensive

Environmental Response,

Compensation, and Liability Act

(‘‘CERCLA’’). This partial deletion of the

Site is proposed in accordance with 40

CFR 300.425(e) and the Notice of Policy

Change: Partial Deletion of Sites Listed

on the National Priorities List. (60 FR

55466, November 1, 1995).

This proposal for partial deletion

pertains to the surface portion, which

includes all surface soils and former

separator area and does not pertain to

the subsurface portion (ground water

and subsurface soils) of the Site. The

subsurface portions of the Site will

remain on the NPL, and response

activities will continue at that portion.

The Responsible Parties have

implemented all appropriate response

actions required for the surface portion

of the Site. EPA bases its proposal to

delete this portion of the Site on the

determination by EPA, the State of New

Mexico, through the New Mexico

Environment Department (‘‘NMED’’)

and the Navajo Nation through the

Navajo Nation Superfund Office

(‘‘NSO’’), that all appropriate actions

under CERCLA have been implemented

to protect human health, welfare and

the environment for the surface portion

of the Site.

DATES: The EPA will accept comments

concerning its proposal for partial

deletion until November 5, 1997.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed

to: Ms. Olivia Balandran, Community

Relations Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region

6 (6SF–PO), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas,

Texas 75202–2733, 1–800–533–3508 or

(214) 665–6484.

Information Repositories:

Comprehensive information on the

Prewitt Abandoned Refinery Site as well

as information specific to this proposed

partial deletion is available for review at

EPA’s Region 6 office in Dallas, Texas.

The Administrative Records for Prewitt

Abandoned Refinery Site and the

Deletion Docket for this partial deletion

are maintained at the following Prewitt

Abandoned Refinery Site document/

information repositories:

U.S. EPA, Region 6, Library, 12th Floor

(6MD–II), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas,

Texas 75202–2733, (214) 665–6424 or