[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 93 (Monday, May 13, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 22006-22008]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-11756]



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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5504-1]


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

Agency: Environmental Protection Agency.

Action: Notice of Intent to Delete Martin Marietta Aluminum Company 
from the National Priorities List Update: Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 10, 
announces its intent to delete the Martin Marietta 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 Oregon 
Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) have determined that the Site 
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, 
therefore, further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA are not 
appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before June 
12, 1996.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Howard Orlean, Environmental 
Protection Agency, 1200 Sixth Avenue,

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Mail Stop: ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region 10 public docket which is available for viewing at the Martin 
Marietta Site information repositories at the following locations:

Dalles/Wasco County Library, 722 Court Street, The Dalles, Oregon 
97058.
United States Environmental Protection Agency, Region 10 Office of 
Environmental Cleanup - Records Center, Attn: Lynn Williams, 1200 Sixth 
Avenue, Mail Stop, ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Howard Orlean, U.S. EPA Region 10, 
1200 Sixth Avenue, Mail Stop: ECL-113, Seattle, Washington 98101, (206) 
553-6903.

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 a site from the National Priorities List (NPL), 
Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency 
Plan (NCP), 40 CFR Part 300, and requests comments to this deletion. 
EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear to present a significant 
risk to human health or the environment. As described in Section 
300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL remain eligible 
for Fund-financed remedial actions in the unlikely event that 
conditions at the site warrant such actions.
    EPA plans to delete the Martin Marietta Aluminum Company Site 
(``Site'') at 3313 West 2nd Street, The Dalles, Oregon 97058, from the 
NPL.
    EPA will accept comments on the plan 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 Martin Marietta Aluminum Company 
Site and explains how the Site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that ``releases'' (sites) 
may be deleted from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further 
response is appropriate. In making a determination to delete a site 
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 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.

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 the Martin Marietta Aluminum Company Site, hazardous 
substances remain on the Site which are above health-based levels, 
therefore, access restrictions, monitoring, operation and maintenance 
activities, and periodic five-year reviews will continue. In addition, 
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 issued preliminary and final close out 
reports which documented the achievement of cleanup goals; (2) The 
Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) 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, 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.
    EPA's Regional Office will accept and evaluate public comments on 
EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete before making a final decision. The 
Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary if any significant public 
comments are received.
    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 
intention to delete this Site from the NPL.

A. Site Background

    Martin Marietta Aluminum was an aluminum reduction facility located 
in The Dalles, Wasco County, Oregon, just west of the Columbia River 
and east of the Union Pacific Railroad tracks at 3313 West 2nd Street. 
The area surrounding the site is primarily mixed heavy and light 
industrial and manufacturing property.

B. History

    Aluminum production operations were begun at the Site by Harvey 
Aluminum, Inc. in 1958. Harvey Aluminum, Inc. became a wholly owned 
subsidiary of Martin Marietta Corporation (MMC) in 1970. The Martin 
Marietta facility continued operations until 1984, when the plant was 
shut down. In September of 1986, MMC leased a portion of the facility 
to Northwest Aluminum Company (NWA), which resumed primary aluminum 
operations in late 1986. In October 1991, MMC sold the portion of the 
facility not affected by deed restrictions to NWA. In 1995, MMC merged 
with Lockheed Corporation to form Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin, as 
successor to MMC, maintains the portion of the NWA plant affected by 
CERCLA remedial actions. The NWA plant still produces aluminum by 
electrolytic reduction of alumina.
    During facility operation, waste constituents were stored, treated, 
and disposed of at the Site. Hazardous substances generated by the 
Martin Marietta facility included fluoride, sodium, sulfate, cyanide 
and polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
    A landfill located in the northern portion of the Site was used to 
dispose of primarily construction debris from the plant. Other 
materials disposed of in this landfill included asbestos

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insulation, coke, pitch and cathode waste.
    In the Spring of 1983, the presence of cyanide compounds was 
detected in the ground water at the Martin Marietta facility. The site 
was proposed for inclusion on the NPL in October 1984. On June 10, 1986 
the Site was placed on the NPL.
    In September 1985, MMC and EPA entered into a Consent Order to 
conduct a remedial investigation/feasibility study (RI/FS) for the 
Site. On September 29, 1988, EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) that 
addressed the potential sources of contamination as identified in the 
RI/FS. The selected remedial action in the ROD included the following 
components:
    <bullet> Consolidate on-Site residual cathode waste and fill 
material into the existing Landfill;
    <bullet> Cap the existing Landfill in place with a multi-media cap 
meeting Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) performance 
criteria;
    <bullet> Place a soil cover over two Sludge Ponds;
    <bullet> Plug and abandon nearby production wells and connect users 
to the City of The Dalles water supply system;
    <bullet> Collect and treat leachate generated from the Landfill;
    <bullet> Recover and treat contaminated ground water from a perched 
zone near the Unloading Area portion of the Site;
    <bullet> Prepare ground-water quality monitoring and contingency 
plans to perform additional recovery of ground water in the event that 
further contamination is detected above health based standards; and
    <bullet> Implement institutional controls including deed 
restrictions and fencing, to assure that the remedial action will 
protect human health and the environment during and after 
implementation.
    An Explanation of Significant Differences (ESD) was signed by EPA 
Region 10 on September 23, 1994. The ESD documented modifications to 
remedial actions which were anticipated in the ROD, and an addition to 
the remedial action which was not anticipated in the ROD.
    Changes to the ROD which are documented in the ESD include the 
following:
    <bullet> The ROD anticipated that the volume of leachate generated 
from the Landfill would be reduced to a negligible flow within five 
years. However, since the signing of the ROD, the leachate flow rate 
has not decreased significantly. As a result, the leachate will have to 
be treated for a longer term than expected.
    <bullet> The ROD also required treatment of contaminated ground 
water in an area known as the Unloading Area. Additional ground-water 
information which was collected since the ROD, has made it unnecessary 
to treat the ground water in the Unloading Area.

C. Characterization of Risk

    Prior to remediation, the preliminary environmental pathways of 
concern related to the wastes from the aluminum reduction facility were 
ground water and on-Site soils.
    The remedial action commenced on August 29, 1989 and consisted of 
the following activities:
    <bullet> Consolidation and capping of wastes and debris from three 
former operating units.
    <bullet> Excavation and consolidation of cathodic wastes into the 
Landfill, and placement of a multi-layered RCRA performance cap over 
the Landfill.
    <bullet> Construction of a Leachate Collection System and Cyanide 
Destruction Treatment System to collect and transfer any generated 
leachate from the Landfill for treatment.
    <bullet> Abandonment of four potable water wells in the vicinity of 
the Site, and connecting their users to the municipal supply.
    <bullet> Implementation of institutional controls.
    <bullet> Implementation of a ground-water monitoring program.
    On-Site containment of contaminated soils and debris has reduced 
exposure and inhibited the source of ground-water contamination. 
Analytical data based on five years of ground-water monitoring 
following the remedial action indicate concentrations of contaminants 
of concern do not exceed ROD cleanup levels.
    All pathways by which environmental receptors could potentially be 
exposed to Site-related contaminants have been eliminated.
    Since hazardous substances will remain on Site, operation and 
maintenance activities will continue, and institutional controls will 
remain in effect. A long-term ground-water monitoring program has been 
implemented at the Site. In addition, the Site will continue to be 
subject to periodic five-year reviews to ensure that the remedy remains 
protective of human health and the environment.

D. Public Participation

    Community input has been sought by EPA Region 10 throughout the 
cleanup process for the Site. Community relations activities have 
included public meetings prior to signing of the ROD, several public 
notices in local newspapers, and routine publication of progress fact 
sheets. A copy of the Deletion Docket can be reviewed by the public at 
the Dalles/Wasco County Library or the EPA Region 10 Superfund Records 
Center. The Deletion Docket includes this Notice, the ROD, ESD, 
Remedial Action Construction Report, Preliminary Site Close-Out Report, 
and Final Site Close-Out Report. EPA Region 10 will also announce the 
availability of the Deletion Docket for public review in a local 
newspaper and informational fact sheet.
    One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may 
delete a site from the NPL if ``responsible parties or other persons 
have implemented all appropriate response actions required''. EPA, with 
the concurrence of DEQ, believes that this criterion for deletion has 
been met. Ground water and soil data from the Site confirm that the ROD 
cleanup goals have been achieved. It is concluded that there is no 
significant threat to human 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: May 2, 1996.
Chuck Clarke,
Regional Administrator, Region 10.
[FR Doc. 96-11756 Filed 5-10-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P