[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 73 (Monday, April 17, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 19203-19205]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-9384]



[[Page 19203]]

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5192-5]


National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; 
National Priorities List; Intent To Delete Pesses Chemical Co., TX

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Pesses Chemical Company Site 
from the National Priorities List: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 
6 announces its intent to delete the Pesses Chemical Company Site 
(Site) from the National Priorities List (NPL), 40 CFR part 300, 
Appendix B, 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), as amended. EPA and 
the State of Texas, through the Texas Natural Resource Conservation 
Commission (TNRCC), have determined that all appropriate actions under 
CERCLA have been implemented and that no further cleanup is 
appropriate. Moreover, EPA and the State have determined that response 
activities conducted at the Site to date have been protective of public 
health, welfare, and the environment.

DATES: The EPA will accept comments concerning its proposal to delete 
until May 17, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Ms. Olivia Rodriguez-Balandran, 
Community Relations Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region 6 (6H-MC), 1445 Ross 
Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-6584 or, 1-800-533-3508.
    Comprehensive information on the Site is available for review at 
EPA's Region 6 office in Dallas, Texas. The Administrative Record for 
this Site is maintained in EPA's Region 6 Library and is available for 
viewing from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding 
holidays. The address for the Region 6 Library office is: U.S. EPA, 
Region 6, Library, 12th Floor, 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-
2733, (214) 665-6424 or 665-6427.
    The Administrative Record also is available for viewing at the 
Pesses Chemical Company Site information repositories located at:

Fort Worth Public Library, Seminary South Branch, 501 East Bolt Street, 
Fort Worth, Texas 76110, (817) 926-0215.
Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission, 12118 North IH35, 
Building D, Room 190, Austin, Texas 78753, (512) 239-2920.

    Certain background information, including EPA's proposal to delete 
the Site from the NPL and the basis for EPA's proposal, is available 
for viewing at the following additional Pesses Chemical Company Site 
information repositories. A complete copy of the Administrative Record 
is not maintained at these locations:

City Secretary's Office, Fort Worth City Hall, 1000 Throckmorton, Fort 
Worth, Texas 76102.
Fort Worth Central Library, 300 Taylor Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76102.
Texas Christian University, Mary Couts Burnett Library, 2800 University 
Drive, Fort Worth, Texas 76109.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Earl G. Hendrick, U.S. EPA, Region 
6 (6H-SC), 1445 Ross Avenue, Dallas, Texas 75202-2733, (214) 665-8519.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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

I. Introduction

    The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 6 
announces its intent to delete the Pesses Chemical Company Site, Fort 
Worth, Tarrant County, Texas, (Site) from the National Priorities List 
(NPL), which constitutes Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous 
Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR part 300, and 
requests comments on this deletion. The NPL is a list maintained by EPA 
of sites that EPA has determined 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 (Fund). Pursuant to 40 CFR 300.425(e) of the NCP, any site 
deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial 
actions if conditions at the site warrant such action.
    The EPA will accept comments concerning its intent to delete for 
thirty (30) 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 the history of the Site and explains 
how the 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 the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In 
making such a determination pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e), EPA will 
consider, in consultation with the State, whether any of the following 
criteria have been met:

    Section 300.425(e)(1)(i)  Responsible parties or other persons 
have implemented all appropriate response actions required; or,
    Section 300.425(e)(1)(ii)  All appropriate Fund-financed 
response under CERCLA has been implemented, and no further response 
action by responsible parties is appropriate; or
    Section 300.425(e)(1)(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.

    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for 
subsequent Fund-financed actions if future site conditions warrant such 
actions. Section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP provides that Fund-financed 
actions may be taken at sites that have been deleted from the NPL.
    In addition, deletion of a site from the NPL does not affect the 
liability of responsible parties or impede agency efforts to recover 
costs associated with response efforts.

III. Deletion Procedures

    Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management.
    Upon determination that at least one of the criteria described in 
Sec. 300.425(e) has been met, EPA may formally begin deletion 
procedures. The following procedures were used for the intended 
deletion of the Site:

    (1) EPA Region 6 has recommended deletion and has prepared the 
relevant documents.
    (2) The State of Texas concurred by letter dated June 2, 1994, 
with the deletion decision.
    (3) Concurrent with this National Notice of Intent to Delete, a 
notice has been published in local newspapers and has been 
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials, and 
other interested parties. This local notice announces a thirty (30) 
day public comment period on the deletion package, which starts with 
the publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    (4) The Region has made all relevant documents available in the 
Regional Office and local Site and State of Texas information 
repositories.

    [[Page 19204]] These procedures have been completed for the Site. 
This Federal Register notice, and a concurrent notice in the local 
newspaper in the vicinity of the Site, announce the initiation of a 30-
day public comment period and the availability of the Notice of Intent 
to Delete. The public is asked to comment on EPA's proposal to delete 
the Site from the NPL; all critical documents needed to evaluate EPA's 
decision are included in the information repositories and are included 
in the deletion docket.
    Upon completion of the 30-day public comment period, the EPA 
Regional Office will evaluate these comments before the final decision 
to delete. The Region will prepare a Responsiveness Summary, if 
necessary, which will address concerns presented in the comments 
received during the public comment period. Any Responsiveness Summary 
will be made available to the public at the information repositories 
listed previously. Members of the public are welcome to contact the EPA 
Regional Office to obtain a copy of the Responsiveness Summary, if any. 
If EPA still determines that deletion from the NPL is appropriate after 
receiving public comments, a final notice of deletion will be published 
in the Federal Register. The deletion of the Site does not actually 
occur until the Notice of Deletion is published in the Federal 
Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for deleting 
the Pesses Chemical Company Site from the NPL.
    The Site is located at 2301 South Main Street, Fort Worth, Tarrant 
County, Texas. The Site is in a light industrial and commercial area. 
The 4.2 acre Site was used to reclaim cadmium and nickel from dry-cell 
batteries and metal sludge. The Pesses Company, under the name Pesses 
S'West, conducted reclaiming activities from approximately June 1979 
until January 1981.
    In April 1983, EPA removed 3,400 cubic yards of contaminated soil, 
metal sludge, drummed material, and debris from the Site and shipped 
the waste to Chemical Waste Management, in Port Arthur, Texas. The Site 
was proposed for inclusion on the NPL on October 15, 1984, (49 FR 
40320) with a score of 28.86, due mainly to the potential migration of 
heavy metals via airborne dust and surface water runoff from the Site. 
The Site was finalized on the NPL on June 10, 1986, (51 FR 21054). EPA 
assigned the Texas Water Commission, predecessor to the Texas Natural 
Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC), as the lead agency for 
remedial activities for the Site. The Remedial Investigation/
Feasibility Study (RI/FS) was performed between December 1987 and 
October 1988. Although the imminent health threat had been alleviated 
by the EPA Emergency Response Team removal action conducted in April 
1983, the RI determined that residual contamination of cadmium and 
nickel in the soils (to a depth of two to three feet over most of the 
Site) and in the metal warehouse and process equipment posed health and 
environmental threats requiring remediation. Concentrations of cadmium 
averaged above 300 milligrams per kilogram (mg/kg) of soil. Dust in 
some process equipment contained as much as 59 percent cadmium and 26 
percent nickel. No organic contaminants were found at concentrations 
which posed health or environmental impacts. No asbestos was detected. 
Because the ground water is 380 feet below low permeability clay, shale 
and shaley limestone, and the maximum depth of Site contaminants was 
less than 13 feet, EPA has determined that the ground water was not and 
will not, in the future, be affected by the Site.
    The EPA Regional Administrator signed the Record of Decision (ROD) 
for the Site on December 22, 1988, selecting in-situ stabilization of 
the contaminated soils and Site contaminants, plus capping as the 
remedy. EPA selected this remedy because it eliminates the principal 
threat posed by the Site conditions by eliminating the possibility of 
human exposure with the metals of concern and preventing the spread of 
contaminants.
    During the preparation of the bid specifications for the remedial 
action, EPA recognized that the south field was not wide enough in some 
areas to support a four foot thick protective clay cap over the 
stabilized waste material. Therefore, on June 8, 1990, EPA issued an 
Explanation of Non-Significant Change (ENSC) explaining EPA's decision 
to substitute the four foot thick clay cap with an 80 mil thick high 
density polyethylene (HDPE) liner and an eight inch thick, double 
reinforced concrete cap. This type of concrete cap, to be placed on the 
southern portion of the Site, is similar to the cap specified in the 
ROD for the northern portion of the Site and would not increase the 
cost of the remedial action.
    After a competitive bid process, TNRCC awarded the remediation 
contract to the lowest responsive, responsible bidder. The former Site 
operations area consisted of a metal warehouse with various pieces of 
equipment, a baghouse, two underground sumps, and a south storage yard 
with a concrete pad. The remedial action contractor (Contractor) 
removed the refractory from the furnaces and the two sumps from the 
ground. The Contractor eventually consolidated this material with the 
dust and bags from the baghouse and the contaminated soil. The 
Contractor decontaminated the metal warehouse building, drums and metal 
process equipment by high pressure water washing. TNRCC's oversight 
Engineer (Engineer) collected and analyzed wipe samples for cadmium and 
nickel.
    The Contractor excavated 1,806 cubic yards of offsite contaminated 
soil and 10,553 cubic yards of onsite contaminated soil. The excavated 
material was placed in the south field and stabilized in-situ with a 
mixture of 1 part cement kiln dust to 9 parts Site-contaminated soil by 
weight. Equilibrium Partitioning Toxicity Tests verified that the Site 
contaminants did not leach out of the stabilized soil.
    An 80 mil thick textured HDPE liner was then installed over the 
stabilized soil by the HDPE manufacturer's licensed installer and all 
line seams were tested in accordance with the manufacturer's 
specifications. An eight inch thick, double reinforced steel concrete 
cap was placed over the HDPE top liner and sealed according to the 
sealer manufacturer's specifications. A fence was installed around the 
Site. Contaminated soil excavated from the northern portion of the Site 
was replaced with clean soil and covered with an eight inch thick, 
double reinforced steel concrete cap. Contaminated soil excavated from 
offsite was replaced with clean soil and sodded.
    Other than the material required for laboratory analysis, all 
contaminated material remained on the Site and is contained within the 
fenced and capped area. To reduce the quantity of buried material and 
to recycle steel, decontaminated steel was removed from the Site. 
Contaminated wash water was used in the contaminated soil compaction 
and stabilization activities. Air monitoring analyses during 
construction found no contaminant levels of concern.
    EPA, TNRCC, and TNRCC's Engineer conducted the Construction Final 
Inspection on September 15, 1992. The team determined that the remedial 
action had been completed successfully. The Engineer's Final Remedial 
Action Report, detailing the remedial activities and documenting the 
successful completion of all construction activities, was submitted in 
November 1992. On [[Page 19205]] September 30, 1993, the Acting 
Regional Administrator signed the EPA Final Close Out Report. EPA 
released a Fact Sheet describing this report and the status of the Site 
in January 1994.
    The Cooperative Agreement between EPA and TNRCC budgeted $2,552,898 
for all of TNRCC's remedial design and remedial action activities, 
including the Construction Contract, oversight and the State ten 
percent cost share and the first year of Operation and Maintenance. The 
final actual cost expenditure for these activities totaled $1,383,320.
    The EPA/TNRCC community relations activities included: a public 
meeting in 1985 to explain the Superfund process and to learn of 
citizen concerns; a questionnaire to area officials and residents 
requesting information on their concerns or issues related to the Site; 
an EPA briefing to Fort Worth health officials regarding the proposed 
remedy; and a meeting in November 1988 to present the alternatives 
developed in the FS and EPA's preferred alternative for remedial 
action. In June 1990, TNRCC presented the plans for the Remedial Action 
(RA). In April 1992, EPA and TNRCC met with railroad personnel working 
adjacent to the Site to discuss their concerns regarding possible 
exposures to Site contaminants during the Pesses metal reclamation 
operations and during the remedial action. EPA and TNRCC explained that 
they could not determine the worker exposure during the time that 
Pesses S'West conducted metal reclamation operations, gave the workers 
information regarding cadmium, nickel and lead poisoning, and suggested 
that the workers contact their employer-provided physician or their own 
personal physician. EPA and TNRCC also explained that air monitoring at 
the perimeter of the Site would ensure that no detectable quantities of 
contaminants left the Site during remediation activities.
    All EPA completion requirements for the Site have been met. 
Specifically, confirmatory sampling verified that soil and dust 
contaminated with greater than 15 parts per million (ppm) cadmium or 
100 ppm nickel was excavated, stabilized with cement kiln dust, capped 
and fenced in accordance with the ROD and the ENSC. Confirmatory soil 
sampling and the backfilling of the excavated areas with clean soil 
provides further assurance that the area no longer poses any threats to 
human health or to the environment and no further Superfund response is 
appropriate.
    The Site Review and Update, prepared by the Texas Department of 
Health under a Cooperative Agreement with the Agency for Toxic 
Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), issued on September 1, 1993, 
states that all of ATSDR's previous recommendations have been addressed 
or can be dismissed. The potential threat to human exposure has been 
eliminated.
    TNRCC's Engineer conducted quarterly Site inspections for TNRCC 
during the one year Operational and Functional (O&F) period from 
September 1992 to September 1993 and reported the results to TNRCC. The 
Site concrete cap and fencing were inspected for integrity. EPA, TNRCC 
and TNRCC's Engineer conducted the final O&F inspection on September 
10, 1993. There were no cracks in the concrete but there were minor 
surface cracks in the asphalt sealant covering the joint fillers and 
one hole cut in the fence. Repairs were made. EPA determined that the 
remedial action was successful in protecting the public health and 
welfare.
    The State assumed all responsibility for Operation & Maintenance 
(O&M) at the Site as of October 1, 1993. Therefore, long-term O&M of 
the Site will be under the direction of the State of Texas, as 
guaranteed in the Cooperative Agreement awarding remedial action funds. 
O&M consists of inspecting the concrete cap and security fence for 
integrity and making all needed repairs.
    Hazardous substances, above health-based levels, remain in the 
stabilized and capped soil located on the southern portion of the Site. 
These materials prevent unlimited use and unrestricted access to this 
portion of the Site. For this reason, EPA will conduct statutory five-
year reviews, pursuant to Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response 
Directive 9355.7-02, ``Structure and Components of Five-Year Reviews''. 
EPA will conduct the first review before September 1996. These reviews 
will allow EPA and the State to determine whether the protectiveness of 
the remedy for the Site will be maintained over time.
    Based on the successful stabilization of the hazardous materials 
onsite, the results of O&M activities to date, and ATSDR's favorable 
review, the remedy is protective and no additional response action is 
necessary. State funded O&M and EPA funded five-year reviews will 
continue in the future, but EPA may proceed with the Site deletion 
since applicable deletion criteria have been satisfied.
    EPA, with concurrence of the State of Texas, has determined that 
all appropriate responses under CERCLA at the Pesses Chemical Company 
Site have been completed, and that no further response action, other 
than O&M and Five-Year reviews, is necessary. Therefore, EPA proposes 
to delete the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: April 7, 1995.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Acting Regional Administrator, US EPA Region 6.
[FR Doc. 95-9384 Filed 4-14-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P