[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 70 (Wednesday, April 12, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 18565-18566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8882]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5188-1]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete Hamilton Island (Site) from the 
National Priorities List: Request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 10 announces 
its intent to delete the Hamilton Island site 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, remedial measures 
pursuant to CERCLA are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before May 
12, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Christopher Cora, U.S. 
Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop: HW-124, 
Seattle, Washington 98101.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers public docket which is available for 
viewing at the Hamilton Island repositories at the following locations:

North Bonneville City Hall/Community Library North Bonneville, 
Washington
Bonneville Dam Second Powerhouse and Bradford Island Visitor Center, 
Skamania County, Washington
U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District, 333 S.W. First Street, 
Portland, Oregon 97204

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Christopher Cora, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Mail Stop: HW-124, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 553-1148.

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 Hamilton Island 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 on this deletion. EPA identifies sites that appear to present 
a significant risk to human health or the environment and maintains the 
NPL as a list of those sites. As described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the 
NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible for remedial actions in 
the unlikely event that conditions at the site warrant such actions.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete 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 the Hamilton Island Site and explains 
how the Site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that releases may be deleted 
from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further response is 
appropriate. In making a determination to delete a release 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 persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate response 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 this Site, where no hazardous wastes are above health 
based levels and future access does not require restriction, operation 
[[Page 18566]] and maintenance activities and five-year reviews will 
not be conducted. However, if new information becomes available which 
indicates a need for further action, the federal government may 
initiate 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) EPA Region 10 selected No Action as the selected remedy 
in the Record of Decision for the Site. The No Action Record of 
Decision qualifies the Site for inclusion on the Superfund Site 
Construction Completion List and may be used to initiate Deletion from 
the NPL procedures. (2) The Washington State Department of Ecology 
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 local 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 informational purposes to assist Agency management. As 
mentioned in Section II of this Notice, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP 
states that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude 
eligibility for future response actions.
    For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and 
evaluate public comments on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before 
making a final decision to delete. If necessary, the Agency will 
prepare a Responsiveness Summary if any significant public comments are 
addressed.
    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 the Regional office.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposed deletion of this Site from the NPL.
    Hamilton Island is located adjacent to the Columbia River, 
approximately one and an half miles downstream from the Bonneville Dam, 
in Skamania County Washington, 40 miles east of Portland, Oregon. The 
area surrounding the Site is part of the Columbia River Gorge National 
Scenic Area. Adjacent areas to the Site are used for commercial, 
residential and open space.
    The Site was used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) for 
the disposal of earthen materials and the old town of North Bonneville 
during the construction of the Bonneville Dam Second Powerhouse between 
1977 and 1982.
    The Site was placed on the NPL on October 14, 1992 as a Federal 
Facility. The basis of the listing was for possible releases of 
arsenic, copper, lead, zinc and toluene above Ambient Water Quality 
Criteria to the Columbia River and other sensitive ecological areas. 
The USACE entered into a Federal Facility Agreement on September 24, 
1993 with USEPA and the Department of Ecology to conduct a Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study and the necessary Remedial Actions.
    The Remedial Investigation determined that there was not 
unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, in fact the only 
contamination, above federal or state health based levels, detected was 
low level petroleum contamination in soils. On November 29, 1994 USACE 
proposed, in consultation with EPA and Department of Ecology to take No 
Action at the Site. No comments were received in opposition to the 
proposal.
    Human health and ecological risk assessments were performed to 
assess current or future potential adverse human health or ecological 
effects associated with exposure to chemicals detected in soils, 
groundwater, surface water and sediments at Hamilton Island. Based on 
comparison of site specific analytical data with EPA and State risk-
based screening criteria, ecological benchmarks, toxicity values, and 
the detection frequency and exposure potential of chemical 
constituents, it was concluded that chemicals at Hamilton Island do not 
pose an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment, under any 
land use scenario. Accordingly, EPA will not conduct ``five-year 
reviews'' at this Site.
    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``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''. EPA, with concurrence of Ecology, believes that this 
criterion for deletion has been met. It is concluded that there is no 
significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, 
no further remedial action is necessary. Subsequently, EPA is proposing 
deletion of this Site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action 
are available from the docket.

    Dated: March 30, 1995.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 95-8882 Filed 4-11-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-M