[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 113 (Tuesday, June 12, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 31580-31582]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-14470]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6963-3]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

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

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces 
its intent to delete the Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site from the 
National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this 
proposed action. The NPL constitutes appendix B to 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 
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have determined 
that the Site poses no significant threat to public health or the 
environment and therefore, further response measures pursuant to CERCLA 
are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before: 
July 12, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Richard D. Green, Director, Waste 
Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Atlanta 
Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region 4 public docket, which is available for viewing at the 
Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site information repositories at two 
locations. Locations, contacts, phone numbers and viewing hours are:

U.S. EPA Record Center, attn: Ms. Debbie Jourdan, Atlanta Federal 
Center, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-8960, Phone: 
(404) 562-8862, Hours: 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday through Friday By 
Appointment Only
Bruton Memorial Library, 302 McLendon Street, Plant City, Florida 
33566-3299, Phone: (813) 757-9215, Hours: 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., Monday 
through Thursday 9 a.m. to 6 p.m., Friday, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday, 
closed, Sunday

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Galo Jackson, U.S. EPA Region 4, Mail 
Code: WD-SSMB, Atlanta Federal Center, 61 Forsyth Street, SW., Atlanta, 
Georgia 30303-8960, (404) 562-8937.

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 4 announces its intent to delete the Schuylkill 
Metals Corporation Site, Plant City, 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. Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions 
financed by the Hazardous Substance Superfund Trust Fund (Fund). 
Pursuant to Sec. 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 Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site, 
located at 402 South Woodrow Wilson Street in Plant City, Hillsborough 
County, Florida from the NPL.
    EPA will accept comments concerning 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 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 300.425(e), sites may be 
deleted from, or re-categorized 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.
    CERCLA section 121(c), 42 U.S.C. 9621(c), provides in pertinent 
part that:

    If the President selects a remedial action that results in any 
hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remaining at the 
Site, the President shall review such remedial action no less often 
than each five years after the initiation of such remedial action to 
assure that human health and the environment are being protected by 
the remedial action being implemented. * * *

    EPA policy interprets this provision of CERCLA to apply to those 
sites where treated, in this case solidified, waste remains on-site. On 
that basis, for reasons set forth below, the statutory requirement has 
been satisfied at this Site, and five year reviews and operation and 
maintenance activities will be required. In the event new information 
is discovered which indicates a need for further action, EPA may 
initiate appropriate remedial actions. In addition, whenever there is a 
significant release from a site previously deleted from the NPL, that 
site may be restored to the NPL without application of the Hazardous 
Ranking System. Accordingly, the Site is qualified for deletion from 
the NPL.

III. Deletion Procedures

    EPA will accept and evaluate public comments before making a final 
decision on deletion. The following procedures were used for the 
intended deletion of the Site:
    1. FDEP has concurred with the deletion decision;
    2. Concurrently with this Notice of Intent, 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

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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 Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site is located at 802 South 
Woodrow Wilson Street, Plant City, Hillsborough County, Florida. The 
Site is 17.4 acres in size and is currently occupied by the solidified 
monolith, two wetlands, the former wastewater holding pond and adjacent 
fields.
    The Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site was in operation between 
1972 and 1986 as a battery recycling facility. The facility received 
spent automobile and golf cart batteries. The tops of the spent 
batteries were sawed off, contents emptied on to the ground and lead 
plates shipped from the Site by rail to be smelted for reuse. 
Contaminated battery casings were crushed and buried on Site, or used 
as road or building material. Prior to 1981, acidic wash down waste 
waters were stored in the 2.2 acre unlined holding pond. Initially, 
lime was used for pH adjustment of the water stored in the holding 
pond. Subsequent to this, ammonia was used. In 1981, after upgrading of 
the wastewater system, discharge to the holding pond ceased. At this 
time, wastewater was treated with sodium hydroxide, prior to discharge 
under permit to the city's wastewater treatment plant.
    In 1981, EPA conducted its initial investigation of the Schuylkill 
Metals Corporation Site. The results of this study indicated that 
groundwater from the surficial aquifer contained elevated levels of 
cadmium, chromium, lead and ammonia in the vicinity of the holding pond 
and the battery processing area.
    The Site was placed on the NPL and a remedial investigation (RI) 
was performed at the facility during 1987. As a result of sampling of 
surface and subsurface soil, the former battery processing area was 
found to be the primary source of contamination. In April 1988, an 
addendum RI addressed specific areas of concern that were not included 
in the initial study. Later that year, a draft feasibility study (FS) 
was completed which included proposed cleanup levels for soil and 
groundwater, evaluated the remedial alternatives for the Site and 
specified the volume of soil requiring treatment. A treatability study 
work plan was submitted in January 1989, which evaluated various 
chemical formulas for a solidification/stabilization soil remedy.
    In July 1989, a FS addendum was completed, in an effort to 
determine appropriate cleanup levels for the perimeter ditch sediment 
and marsh sediment. The addendum allowed EPA to address potential 
remedial actions to mitigate the environmental threat to the marshes 
posed by the release of contaminants from the Schuylkill Metals 
Corporation Site. Late that year, the Environmental Services Division 
(ESD) of EPA conducted two studies on the east marsh at the Site: a 
wetland classification assessment and a sampling investigation. The 
wetland was classified, delineated, and analyzed for its functional 
value. Samples of the surface water and sediment were collected and 
analyzed. These reports identified the need to perform biological 
testing on marsh samples. Later that year, ESD collected surface water 
and sediment samples to determine the toxicity of the metal 
contaminants to terrestrial and aquatic organisms, indigenous plant and 
animal bioaccumulation, as well as the fate of these metals in the 
wetland system. The Wetland Impact Study was finalized in 1990 and 
presented the chemical and biological data, as well as the effect of 
potential remedial activities on the marsh.
    A Draft Final Addendum to the Feasibility Study Report, concluded 
in July of 1990, evaluated the technologies for remediation and the 
remedial alternatives appropriate for the wetlands. It compared the 
feasibility of four alternatives in relation to the nine evaluation 
criteria.
    In September 1990, EPA issued a Record of Decision (ROD), requiring 
the solidification/stabilization of the then-estimated 38,000 cubic 
yards (approximately 53,200 tons) of contaminated soil and sediment, 
having concentrations above 500 milligrams per kilograms (mg/kg); 
groundwater pumping-and-treatment; sequestration of lead in the 
wetland's sediment by changing the hydroperiod of the affected 
wetlands; and mitigation for the damage caused to the wetlands, as a 
result of the operation of a battery recycling facility adjacent to 
wetlands.
    As a result of a hydrologic study conducted after the issuance of 
the ROD, the selected remedy for the wetland was modified to removal 
and solidification/stabilization of lead-contaminated sediment, above 
the 100 mg/kg clean-up goal. This modification was documented in a 1993 
Explanation of Significant Differences.
    The responsible party entered into an agreement with EPA, in which 
they agreed to perform the work outlined in the ROD. This was 
memorialized in a March 1991 Consent Decree. To implement the remedy, a 
remedial design and remedial action (RD/RA) work plans were submitted 
to EPA. The last of these plans was approved in June 1993.
    In December 1993 two slurry walls were installed in order to 
facilitate the management of the Site water. They allowed the volume of 
groundwater removed from the soil excavation area to be minimized and 
confined primarily to contaminated water in the immediate vicinity of 
the soil contamination, as well as rainfall which occurred during soil 
solidification/stabilization activities.
    During the months of April and May 1994, approximately 8,100 cubic 
yards of lead-contaminated marsh sediments were removed from the east 
and west marshes. All sediment having lead concentrations greater than 
125 mg/kg were excavated. The marsh sediment from grids with lead 
concentrations between 125 and 500 mg/kg stockpiled in a clean upland 
area. Sediment with lead concentration greater than 500 mg/kg were 
stockpiled within the north slurry wall areas for subsequent treatment.
    In June 1994, construction of the groundwater pre-treatment system 
began. This system consisted of three major process operations: a 
metals removal system, an air stripper/ammonia scrubber and a 
chlorination system. For the first three months of the pre-treatment 
system's operation, the plant treated the existing pond water to 
provide room for groundwater storage. The treated water was discharged 
to the Plant City publicly owned treatment works (POTW). While the 
contaminated soil was being stabilized, groundwater from the excavation 
dewatering operation was treated prior to discharge to the POTW. An 
estimated 15-to-18 million gallons of groundwater was treated between 
the months of July 1994 and December 1996.
    In December 1994, treatment of soil started and continued until May 
1997. During this period approximately 258,000 tons (184,000 cubic 
yards) of soil and sediment were treated. This volume of lead-
contaminated soil and sediment includes excavation and treatment of 
approximately 10,000 cubic yards of sediments removed from the bottom 
of the former holding pond. Excavation of the former holding pond 
required the installation of sheet piling to segregate the pond into 
three sections.
    Wetland mitigation activities started in May 1995 and ended in 
August 1997. Wetland mitigation activities involved the creation of 
additional wetland acreage from upland or pond areas on-site to 
mitigate for the permanently

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inundated or contaminated areas and temporary loss of function. This 
upland portion included mitigation at a ratio of 2:1 for the 
permanently inundated areas in the East Marsh plus an additional 1:1 
compensation for natural resource damage agreed to in negotiations with 
the FDEP.
    The Site's post-soil treatment groundwater was monitored on four 
occasions, in order to determine whether the groundwater treatment 
component of the ROD would need to be implemented. These results 
indicated that further groundwater recovery and treatment would not be 
necessary.
    Due to the treatment of contaminated soil and sediment, hazardous 
substances have been immobilized, allowing for unlimited use of part of 
the Site. Excluded from unlimited use are the areas of the treated soil 
and the remediated wetlands, which are the subject of a conservation 
easement. In order to confirm that the Site is protective of public 
health and the environment, limited maintenance of the solidified 
monolith will be required, as well as Five Year Reviews.
    EPA, with concurrence of FDEP, has determined that all appropriate 
actions at the Schuylkill Metals Corporation Site have been completed, 
and no further remedial action is necessary. Therefore, EPA is 
proposing deletion of the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: March 26, 2001.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 01-14470 Filed 6-11-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U