[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 228 (Tuesday, November 28, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58623-58625]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-29035]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
[FRL-5335-1]
Notice of Intent to Reissue an Exemption From the Land Disposal
Restrictions of the 1984 Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments (HSWA) to
the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) Regarding Injection
of Hazardous Waste to Cabot Corporation
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to Reissue an Exemption to Cabot Corporation
(Cabot) of Tuscola, Illinois, for the Injection of Waste Hydrochloric
Acid and Specified Hazardous Constituents Found in Ground Water at the
Tuscola Facility.
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SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA or
Agency) is today proposing to reissue an exemption from the ban on
disposal of certain hazardous wastes through injection wells to Cabot
Corporation for its site at Tuscola, Illinois. On November 6, 1990, the
Agency issued Cabot an exemption for injection of certain hazardous
wastes into Waste Disposal Well (WDW) No. 2 after determining that
there is a reasonable degree of certainty that Cabot's injected wastes
will not migrate out of the injection zone within the next 10,000
years. On February 4, 1991, Cabot was granted an exemption to allow use
of WDW No. 1 at the facility for the disposal of the same wastes
injected through the WDW No. 2. The exemption was modified on November
4, 1994, to include monitor well purge water. If granted, the proposed
reissuance would allow Cabot to inject the RCRA
[[Page 58624]]
regulated wastes D002, F003, and F039, which are already injected
through WDWs Nos. 1 and 2, through WDW No. 3 and will add information
gained as a result of the drilling of WDW No. 3 to the administrative
record. WDW No. 1 will be closed after WDW No. 3 is put on line.
DATES: The EPA is requesting public comments on its proposed decision
to reissue the exemption condition described above. Comments will be
accepted until 45 days after the date of publication of the notice in
local newspapers. Comments on any aspect of the no-migration
demonstration and integrity of the deepwell disposal system are
admissible because the exemption is proposed for reissuance in its
entirety. Comments postmarked after the close of the comment period
will be stamped ``Late''. A public information meeting and a public
hearing to allow comment on this action may be scheduled if significant
comments are received, and a notice of these meetings will be given in
a local paper and to all people on a mailing list developed by the
Agency. If you wish to request that a public hearing be held or to be
notified of the date and location of any pubic hearing held, please
contact the lead petition reviewer listed below.
ADDRESSES: Submit written comments, by mail, to: United States
Environmental Protection Agency, Region 5, Underground Injection
Control Branch (WD-17J), 77 West Jackson Street, Chicago, Illinois
60604, Attention: Rebecca L. Harvey, Chief.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Harlan Gerrish, Lead Petition
Reviewer, UIC Section, Water Division; Office Telephone Number: (312)
886-2939; 17th Floor, Metcalfe Building, 77 West Jackson Street,
Chicago, Illinois.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
A. Authority
The Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments of 1984 (HSWA), enacted on
November 8, 1984, impose substantial new responsibilities on those who
manage hazardous waste. The amendments prohibit the land disposal of
untreated hazardous waste beyond specified dates, unless the
Administrator determines that the prohibition is not required in order
to protect human health and the environment for as long as the waste
remains hazardous (RCRA Sections 3004 (d)(1), (e)(1), (f)(2), (g)(5)).
The statute specifically defined land disposal to include any placement
of hazardous waste in an injection well (RCRA Section 3004(k)). After
the effective date of prohibition, hazardous waste can be injected only
under two circumstances:
(1) When the waste has been treated in accordance with the
requirements of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (40 CFR)
Part 268 pursuant to Section 3004(m) of RCRA, (the EPA has adopted the
same treatment standards for injected wastes in 40 CFR Part 148,
Subpart B); or
(2) When the owner/operator has demonstrated that there will be no
migration of hazardous constituents from the injection zone for as long
as the waste remains hazardous. Applicants seeking this ``no-
migration'' exemption from the ban must demonstrate to a reasonable
degree of certainty that hazardous waste will not leave the injection
zone until either:
(a) The waste undergoes a chemical transformation within the
injection zone through attenuation, transformation, or
immobilization of hazardous constituents so as to no longer pose a
threat to human health and the environment; or
(b) The fluid flow is such that injected fluids will not migrate
vertically upward out of the injection zone, or laterally to a point
of discharge or interface with an underground source of drinking
water (USDW), for a period of 10,000 years.
The EPA promulgated final regulations on July 26, 1988, (53 FR
28118) which govern the submission of petitions for exemption from the
injection well disposal prohibition (40 CFR Part 148). Most companies
seeking exemption have opted to demonstrate waste confinement (option
(b) above) rather than waste transformation (option (a) above). A time
frame of 10,000 years was specified for the confinement demonstration
not because migration after that time is of no concern, but because a
demonstration which can meet a 10,000 year time frame will likely
provide containment for a substantially longer time period, and also to
allow time for geochemical transformations which would render the waste
immobile. The Agency's confinement standard thus does not imply that
leakage will occur at some time after 10,000 years, rather, it is a
showing that leakage will not occur within that time frame and probably
much longer.
The EPA regulations at 40 CFR 148.20(e) provide that any person who
has been granted an exemption to the land disposal restrictions may
request that the Agency reissue the exemption to include additional
wastes, or modify any conditions placed on the exemption by the
Director. If the petitioner complies with 40 CFR 148.20 (a), (b), and
(c) the exemption shall be reissued. Reissuance allows reconsideration
of all factors involved in the determination that land disposal through
injection is protective of the health of persons. Cabot has submitted
data from testing of WDW No. 3 that shows that the assumptions used in
1990 to calculate the distance of migration of hazardous constituents
were very conservative. In fact, the distance of waste migration can be
expected to be considerably less than previously determined. Cabot has
requested that the administrative record be updated to include this new
information and to show that the earlier modeling results are
considerably more conservative than necessary.
Neither the existing exemption from the restrictions of the HSWA to
RCRA nor this reissuance exempts Cabot from the duty to comply with
other laws or regulations.
B. Facility Operation and Process
The Cabot facility in Tuscola, Illinois, is a chemical
manufacturing plant designed to produce fumed silica, SiO2 or
silicon dioxide, which is used as an additive in many products. The
central reaction in the manufacturing process is combination of silicon
tetrachloride with oxygen and hydrogen to produce both fumed silica and
hydrogen chloride vapor. Separation results in fumed silica, product
hydrochloric acid, and wastewaters contaminated with hydrochloric acid
which must be disposed of. This waste, along with rainwater runoff and
seepage into a subsurface drainage system, are normally injected into
Cabot's on-site, Class I hazardous waste injection wells.
C. Exemption
The current exemption allows Cabot to inject wastes bearing RCRA
waste codes D002, F003, and F039 into parts of the Franconia, Potosi,
and Eminence Dolomites, the Gunter Sandstone Formation, and Oneota
Dolomite found between 5,400 and 4,442 feet below the kelly bushing
elevation in WDW No. 2 and extending radially 23,500 feet from WDW No.
2.
D. Submission
On August 15, 1995, Cabot submitted a written request that its
exemption be reissued to change the condition that wastes be injected
only through WDWs No. 1 and 2 to include WDW No. 3. WDW No. 3 was
constructed to replace WDW No. 1 which has a limited capacity due to
size of well elements, and it has had mechanical problems which
threaten its usefulness. In addition, Cabot wished to add information
relevent to the
[[Page 58625]]
demonstration of no migration gained as a result of testing carried out
during the construction of WDW No. 3. The submissions were reviewed by
staff at the EPA to ensure that requirements of 40 CFR
148.120(a)(2)(iv) were met and that the conclusions based on testing
are consistent with the test data.
II. Basis for Determination
A. Mechanical Integrity of WDW No. 3
On January 19, 1995, a standard annulus pressure test of WDW No. 3
demonstrated the absence of leaks in the tubing, packer, and casing,
and on January 20, a radioactivity tracer test was used to demonstrate
the integrity of the annular seal and bottom-hole cement of WDW No. 3
as required by 40 CFR 148.20(a)(2)(iv). The results of these tests were
submitted as parts of the completion report for WDW No. 3, and are
incorporated into the administrative record for this proposed decision.
B. Model Demonstration of No Migration
The grant of an exemption from the land disposal restrictions
imposed by the HSWA of RCRA is based on a demonstration that disposed
wastes will not migrate out of the waste management unit, which is
defined as the injection zone and is specifically those parts of the
Franconia, Potosi, and Eminence Dolomites, the Gunter Sandstone
Formation, and Oneota Dolomite found between depths of 5,400 and 4,442
feet from the kelly bushing elevation in WDW No. 2 and extending
radially 23,500 feet from WDW No. 2. The no-migration demonstration is
made through use of mathematical simulations which use geological
information collected at the site or which is found to be appropriate
for the site and mathematical models which have been proven to be
capable of simulating natural responses to injection. The simulation is
calibrated by matching simulator results against observations at the
site. The exemption was based on the injection through two wells with
the premise that, at the plume boundary, the effects of injection
through two or more wells in close proximity are indistinguishable from
those of injection through a single well. Substitution of WDW No. 3 for
WDW No. 1 would not require a revision of the modeling, because any
change in the plume extent will be contained within the conservatively
delineated boundaries established in 1990.
In 1990, Cabot used volumetric calculations including dispersivity
to find that the greatest lateral extent of movement by the waste plume
will be 17,700 feet. The limit of the waste plume during the life of
the facility is the distance required for the pH to be increased to 2
from an original pH of 0.5 due to mixing during advective flow of three
times the volume of waste injection expected during the wells'
operational lives. No consideration of reaction of injected waste acid
and host dolomite which will result in a much more rapid pH
neutralization was considered. Additional movement of waste
constituents at hazardous levels for the 10,000-year post operating
period was determined by calculating the extent of natural ground water
movement, including buoyancy and dispersion. The total distance of
travel from the wells' centroid required to increase pH from 0.5 to 2
with additional movement of 3,300 feet due to natural flow and 2,500
feet due to buoyancy effects results in a total movement of 23,500
feet. The lateral extent of migration was shown to be less than
distances to features which might allow discharge of hazardous waste
constituents into USDWs.
The limit of vertical movement was determined by a similar process.
The lower starting point used to calculate the distance upward to the
point where dispersion would result in waste dilution 10 times greater
than that required to increase the waste's pH from 0.5 to 2 was 4,830
feet, the greatest depth at which the packer of WDW No. 1 could be set
with no indication of leakage. Long-term vertical movement is primarily
due to molecular diffusion through 10,000 years. The calculation showed
that the total vertical distance from the surface to the plume boundary
is 4,592 feet from the surface. This vertical plume was contained
within the waste management unit defined for Cabot's two injection
wells. Therefore, the Agency accepted the demonstration and granted an
exemption in 1990.
The petitioner has complied with 40 CFR Secs. 148.20(a), (b), and
(c) by the demonstration described in the proposal to grant the
original exemption published in the Federal Register on August 24,
1990, at 55 FR 34739 et seq. The petitioner has further demonstrated
the protective nature of land disposal through injection by the
submission of additional geological and hydrological data on August 16,
1995. Accordingly, U.S. EPA proposes to reissue the exemption as
requested.
III. Conditions of Petition Approval
The existing exemption was granted with conditions. All of the
conditions attached to the exemption and modifications remain in force
except Nos. 5 and 6 of the exemption granted on February 4, 1991.
Condition No. 5 required that an oxygen activation log be run in WDW
No. 1 in 1991. Condition No. 6 required annual temperature logging of
WDW No. 1. These conditions will be moot after the plugging of WDW No.
1. No new conditions are attached to this reissuance of the exemption.
Dated: November 20, 1995.
Rebecca L. Harvey,
Acting Director, Water Division, Region 5, U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
[FR Doc. 95-29035 Filed 11-27-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
