[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 85 (Wednesday, May 3, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 21786-21789]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-10750]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5197-1]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Alpha Chemical Corporation Site from 
the National Priorities List: request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IV announces 
its intent to delete the Alpha Chemical Corporation Site from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this 
proposed action. The NPL is codified as Appendix B of 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) of 
1980, as amended. EPA and the State of Florida Department of 
Environmental Protection (FDEP) have determined that the Site poses no 
significant threat to public health or the environment and therefore, 
no further response pursuant to CERCLA is appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before: 
June 2, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Joe Franzmathes, Director, Waste 
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 345 
Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30365.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region IV [[Page 21787]] public docket, which is available for viewing 
at the Alpha Chemical Corporation information repositories at two 
locations. Locations, contacts, phone numbers and viewing hours are:

U.S. EPA Record Center, attn: Shannon Neal, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30365, Phone: (404) 347-0506. Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 
p.m., Monday through Friday, by appointment only;
Lakeland Public Library, 100 Lake Morton Drive, Lakeland, Florida 
33801, Phone: (813) 499-8242, Hours: 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., Monday 
through Thursday, 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Friday and Saturday, 1:30 
p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Sunday.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Barbara Dick, U.S. EPA Region IV, Mail 
Code: WD-SSRB, 345 Courtland Street, N.E., Atlanta, Georgia 30365, 
(404) 347-2643 x6273.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The EPA Region IV announces its intent to delete the Alpha Chemical 
Corporation Site, Lakeland, Florida, from the NPL, which constitutes 
Appendix B of the NCP, 40 CFR Part 300, and requests comments on this 
deletion. EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear to present a 
significant risk to public health, welfare, or the environment. 
Pursuant to Section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from the 
NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions if conditions 
at the site warrant such action.
    EPA proposes to delete the Alpha Chemical Corporation Site at 4620 
N. Galloway Road, Lakeland, Florida 33809 from the NPL.
    EPA will accept comments concerning this Site for thirty days after 
publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites 
from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is using for 
this action. Section IV discusses how this Site meets the deletion 
criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria that the Agency uses to delete 
sites from the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR Section 300.425(e), sites 
may be deleted from or recategorized on the NPL where no further 
response is appropriate. In making this determination, EPA shall 
consider, in consultation with the State, whether any of the following 
criteria have been met:
    (i) Responsible 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.
    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 Hazardous Ranking System.

III. Deletion Procedures

    The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of the 
Site:
    1. FDEP has concurred with the deletion decision;
    2. A notice has been published in local newspapers and has been 
distributed to appropriate Federal, State and local officials, and 
other interested parties announcing a 30-day public comment period on 
the proposed deletion from the NPL; and
    3. The Region has made all relevant documents available at the 
information repositories.
    The Region will respond to significant comments, if any, submitted 
during the comment period.
    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 informational purposes to assist Agency management.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect any 
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary, if any, will be made available to 
local residents by the Regional office.

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.
    The Alpha Chemical Corporation Site in western Polk County, Florida 
encompasses 32 acres of land. Since 1967 Alpha Resins Corporation (ARC) 
has manufactured polyester resins at the Site and until 1976 discharged 
wastewater from the resin manufacturing into two onsite surface 
impoundments. The ponds operated as percolation basins under a permit 
with the FDEP. In 1976 a thermal oxidizer was installed and water was 
no longer placed into the percolation ponds.
    By 1977 the smaller of the two permitted ponds had dried. This 
unlined pond was used as a solid waste landfill for ARC and its 
employees for approximately one year. A dam was constructed in the 
center of the other wastewater pond and half was lined in concrete 
after pumping the sediments and water into the other half. The 
concrete-lined pond received caustic wash waste and did not discharge 
any of the waste stream to the environment. This concrete-lined pond 
was later filled with soil. The unlined pond remained; however, its use 
was discontinued.
    In October 1981 Alpha Chemical Corporation was one of the original 
sites proposed for placement on the NPL. In the early 1980's EPA 
collected samples from the Site and offsite wells, and in 1983 FDEP 
issued an Environmental Groundwater Assessment report. The report 
determined that groundwater contamination was confined to the surficial 
aquifer and had not migrated offsite. Contaminants detected onsite 
included ethylbenzene, xylene, naphthalene, and benzene. Alpha Chemical 
Corporation became a final site on the first NPL list in September 
1983.
    ARC installed ground water monitoring wells and sampled the soil 
and groundwater and found phthalates, halogenated and non-halogenated 
volatile organic compounds (VOCs), phenols, polynuclear aromatic 
hydrocarbons (PAHs), and non-priority pollutants such as benzyl alcohol 
and benzoic acid in groundwater from the shallow onsite monitoring 
wells. ARC signed a consent order with FDEP in March 1985 to perform a 
Remedial Investigation (RI), Endangerment Assessment (EA), and if 
necessary, a Feasibility Study (FS).
    The EA concluded that the contaminated samples are confined to a 
few sampling locations. Groundwater sampling results in 1987 from all 
groundwater monitoring wells and sand point wells showed an overall 
trend of decreasing levels of constituents in the groundwater. No 
positively identified constituents were detected in the shallow 
monitoring wells located immediately south of the wetland, indicating 
offsite migration was unlikely.
    FDEP and EPA met the community in a public meeting in November 
1986, to discuss the EA and RI and again in a 1988 public meeting to 
discuss the results of the FS. EPA and FDEP [[Page 21788]] addressed 
questions from the audience concerning health effects, aquifer 
characteristics, onsite landfill impacts, sampling efforts, remedial 
alternatives, and monitoring.
    In May 1988 EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) selecting a 
remedy for the Alpha Chemical Corporation Site. The ROD called for 
placing a low permeability cap over the small unlined pond and long-
term monitoring of the surface and groundwater to ensure that the 
remedy is effective and that the landfill continues to meet the 
applicable and relevant or appropriate requirements (ARARs). (Section 
121(d)(2)(A) of CERCLA, 42 U.S.C. Sec. 9621(d)(2)(A), requires with 
respect to any contaminant that will remain on site after the remedy is 
complete, that the degree of cleanup must meet all ARARs.)
    A consent decree between EPA and ARC was entered into court in May 
1989, requiring ARC to perform the remedial design/remedial action (RD/
RA) and to record appropriate deed restrictions. The remedial design 
consisted of capping the unlined pond with a synthetic low permeability 
cap. The cap design ensured that surface runoff would be diverted and 
vertical infiltration would be prevented.
    The remedial action involved removing water from the unlined pond 
and filling with clean clay soil. A synthetic low permeability liner 
and layers of drainage material, filter fabric, and topsoil were placed 
over the compacted fill material. Drainage swales were installed around 
the cap to prevent vertical infiltration. The cap surface was seeded 
and drainage ditches sodded to preclude erosional damage to the cap. 
Construction of the cap over the unlined pond required two weeks and 
was completed on September 15, 1989. EPA sent out fact sheets to inform 
the public that remedial construction had been completed. During the 
following year, ARC decided to sod the cap as an extra measure of 
precaution against the threat of erosion.
    The ROD identified groundwater and surface water cleanup standards 
for five indicator chemicals at the site. One of these chemicals, 1,2-
dichloropropane, was not detected in groundwater at the time the ROD 
was written and another chemical, benzoic acid, did not have a 
groundwater cleanup value; therefore, the ROD required periodic 
monitoring for only three contaminants, ethylbenzene, styrene, and 
total xylenes. Quarterly groundwater samples taken from two monitoring 
wells have been analyzed for these three compounds since the remedial 
action construction was complete in September 1989. Six other wells 
selected for monitoring in the Remedial Design/Remedial Action Project 
Operations Plan (POP) were eliminated from the monitoring requirements 
since the three contaminants being monitored in these wells were 
consistently below contingency levels, often at non-detect levels. 
Prior to site close out, it was confirmed that 1,2-dichloropropane was 
still not present in the groundwater.
    When the ROD was issued in 1988, the Agency had established 
Recommended Maximum Contaminant Levels (RMCLs) for four of the five 
groundwater contaminants at the Alpha Chemical Corporation Site. These 
RMCLs were also used as the contingency levels, or cleanup goals, in 
the POP and are shown in the table below. Since then EPA has 
established MCL Goals (MCLGs) and MCLs for these four contaminants at 
the site. The fifth contaminant, benzoic acid, did not have a RMCL nor 
does it have a MCLG or MCL. The protective groundwater values for the 
four contaminants have changed as follows:

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                          MCL           
               Contaminant                 Recommended    goal   MCL (ug/
                                            MCL (ug/l)   (ug/l)     l)  
------------------------------------------------------------------------
1,2-Dichloropropane......................          6          0        5
Xylene...................................        440     10,000   10,000
Styrene..................................        140        100      100
Ethylbenzene.............................        680        700      700
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In addition, the ROD required groundwater monitoring to ensure that 
source control (the cap and landfill) achieved the clean-up standards 
identified in the ROD as ARARs. The Agency is now confident that the 
remedy, as carried out pursuant to the ROD, is, and will continue to 
be, protective of human health and the environment, because the post-
ROD, more protective MCL levels have been attained at this Site for 
1,2-dichloropropane and styrene.<SUP>1 In addition, the other two 
contaminants of concern, xylene and ethylbenzene, have attained RMCLs, 
which are the clean-up standards established in the ROD.

    \1\Zero level MCLGs are not used as ARARs, instead the MCL is 
used if applicable and appropriate. 40 CFR 300.430(e)(2)(i)(C).
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    The Agency has groundwater monitoring data showing that groundwater 
downgradient of the landfill has attained all ARARs, as identified in 
the ROD. Monitoring results have shown that groundwater concentrations 
of xylene have consistently been below the RMCL and MCLG for 10 years 
in all monitoring wells being monitored. Since one detection at 100 ug/
l in 1990, styrene has been below both the RMCL and the MCLG in all 
groundwater samples. Concentrations of ethylbenzene in the groundwater 
have been below the RMCL and MCLG since 1991, with the exception of a 
detection of 690 ug/l in December 1992 and 1200 ug/l in June 1994. 
Overall monitoring results clearly show these minor exceedances are 
isolated cases. This data demonstrates the effectiveness of the source 
control remedy selected in the ROD as the preferred alternative for 
protecting human health and the environment at the Site.
    The ROD also required surface water monitoring to be conducted to 
confirm surface water ARARs were being attained and specified surface 
water values for ambient criteria for protection of fresh water life 
for the five contaminants. Prior to site close out, all five 
contaminants were confirmed to be below the surface water values cited 
in the ROD. Current ARARs for surface water are the Florida Surface 
Water Quality Criteria and the Federal Ambient Quality Criteria; 
however, no state or federal criteria values have been designated for 
any of the five contaminants. Freshwater quality screening values for 
1,2-dichloropropane and ethylbenzene have been established by Region IV 
Waste Management Division and these two contaminants have not been 
found in surface water above the screening values. In addition, the 
three VOCs constantly being monitored over the long-term have either 
not been detected or were detected at low levels in surface water 
samples.
    As required by the consent decree, ARC has recorded approriate deed 
restrictions for the property.
    In summary, sampling results from all monitoring wells and surface 
water collections confirm that the contaminants have decreased to 
levels below ARARs and that all appropriate actions have been taken to 
ensure that the Site remains protective of human health and the 
environment. ARC's inspections of the cap have indicated that the 
remedy is performing as designed.
    EPA completed a Five-Year Review at the Site to determine whether 
the cap remains effective in 1994. Review activities included a Site 
visit, a reassessment of the ARARs, and sampling. The Five-Year Review 
and monitoring results have demonstrated that the remedy at Alpha 
Chemical Corporation Site has been effective at [[Page 21789]] meeting 
the ARARs. EPA has met the requirement for performing a five-year 
review at the Site, as specified in Section 121(c) of SARA. The next 
five-year review will check future problems and be performed no later 
than February 1999.
    Confirmational monitoring of groundwater demonstrates that no 
significant risk to public health or the environment is posed by the 
Site. The results of the monitoring confirmed that the remedy is 
effective and that the landfill continues to meet ARARs.
    EPA, with concurrence of FDEP, has determined that all appropriate 
actions at the Alpha Chemical Corporation Site have been completed, and 
that no further response is necessary. Therefore, EPA is proposing 
deletion of the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: April 11, 1995.
Patrick M. Tobin,
Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA Region IV.
[FR Doc. 95-10750 Filed 5-2-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P