[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 55 (Monday, March 23, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 13816-13818]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-7307]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5984-2]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics
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 Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics 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
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:
April 22, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Richard D. Green, Acting
Director, Waste Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency, Atlanta Federal Center, 100 Alabama Street S.W., Atlanta,
Georgia 30303-3104.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the
Region 4 public docket, which is available for viewing at the Anaconda
Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site information
[[Page 13817]]
repositories at two locations. Locations, contacts, phone numbers and
viewing hours are:
U.S. EPA Record Center, attn: Phyllis Craig, Atlanta Federal Center,
100 Alabama Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3104, Phone: (404)
562-8881, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, By
Appointment Only
North Central Library, 10750 SW 211th Street, Miami, Florida 33189,
Phone: (305) 693-4541, Hours: 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday, 9:30 a.m.
to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday,
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Zimmerman, U.S. EPA Region 4,
Mail Code: WD-SSMB, Atlanta Federal Center, 100 Alabama Street, S.W.,
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3104, (404) 562-8936.
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 Anaconda
Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site, Miami, 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 Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site
located on the 3600 block of N.W. 76th Street, in Miami, Dade 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 5 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 to apply only to those sites
where any remaining hazardous substances are below the minimum levels
that will allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure while
continuing to be protective of public health and the environment. 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 are not required. However, 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 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 Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site in Dade County is
approximately three acres of land along the north and south sides of
N.W. 76th Street in the 3600 block. The portion on the north is the
Milgo property and the portion on the south is the Anaconda Aluminum
property.
Anaconda Aluminum Company operated an aluminum anodizing facility
on the Anaconda property from approximately 1957 to 1977. The Atlantic
Richfield Company acquired the Anaconda Aluminum Company in 1977 and
operated the facility until February 1982, when all processes ended and
the Anaconda property was sold to the current owner, Dade Metals
Corporation in October 1983. The property was used for storing lumber
and rebar by a tenant, JRD Forming Company. JRD is no longer a tenant
and the property is currently not in use. The aluminum anodizing
operations utilized an electrochemical processing acid and a caustic
base to produce a film of protective oxide on aluminum. Wastewater from
the process was discharged into an onsite percolation pit, permitted by
the Metropolitan Dade County Department of Environmental Resources
Management. The percolation pit was filled in when the facility ceased
operations.
Milgo Electronics, producers of communications and data processing
equipment, conducted electroplating, manufacturing, painting, and
packaging operations at the Milgo property from 1961 until 1984.
Wastewater from
[[Page 13818]]
chemical rinses, metal plating, and spray coating were treated onsite
in a treatment system designed to precipitate dissolved metals from the
wastewater. The precipitated sediment was removed by a tank truck and
the remaining liquid was discharged to a drainfield on the property.
Racal-Datacom, Inc. became the successor to Milgo Electronics
Corporation. The Milgo facility was closed in 1984 and 1985 in
accordance with a closure plan approved by the Florida Department of
Environmental Regulation (renamed the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection). As part of the closure, the drainfield,
batch waste holding tank, and all process vessels were drained and
their contents disposed of at approved sites.
Preliminary and expanded site investigations determined that there
was potential impact to the environment by inorganic contaminants, in
particular chromium, lead, and aluminum. The Site was placed on the NPL
in August of 1990. An Administrative Order by Consent for the Remedial
Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) was signed on July 31, 1992 and
later amended in November of 1992. Additional sampling was conducted
prior to the RI/FS and based upon these results, a removal action was
conducted in 1993 to remove a significant portion of the contamination
at the Site. The removal activities addressed soil and treatment
structures known to contain elevated levels of metals and organics and
included; removal of liquids and sludge from the settling tank,
drainfield, batch tank, and underground circular structure and sump
with the liquid and sludge being pumped into 55 gallon drums for
disposal at an approved offsite location, the testing of the sump (no
leakage was observed other than the exit pipe), decontamination and
removal/filling of structures with cement slurry, and finally
excavation of the drainfield to a 6-7 foot depth below land surface in
a 50 foot long by 7 foot wide trench. Post-removal sampling results
indicated that the removal was successful.
In 1993, a Remedial Investigation was performed mainly on the
remaining areas of potential contamination not addressed during the
removal action. Over 100 samples of soil, groundwater, and sediment
were collected. A Baseline Risk Assessment was conducted as part of
this RI to evaluate the public health and environmental problems that
could result if the Site were not remediated.
The results of the RI and the Risk Assessment indicated that the
1993 removal of contaminated soils at the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo
Electronics Site reduced the risk from exposure to Site-related
contaminants in the soils to levels which are protective of human
health and the environment. Groundwater contaminants which could be
directly attributed to the Site were below concentrations which
exceeded health-based levels. Two volatile organic compounds (VOCs)
that were found during the RI in the deep wells have been cited as an
area-wide groundwater condition.
On November 22, 1994, EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the
Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site. The ROD called for No Further
Action at the Site. However, to verify that the VOCs detected in the
groundwater are not indicative of a Site-related release, EPA required
that four post-RI supplemental sampling events would take place. This
post-RI sampling, which was completed last year, confirmed that no
significant risk to public health or the environment is posed by the
Site. In three out of the four sampling events, the contaminants found
during the RI were no longer present at levels above drinking water
standards.
Due to the removal of contaminated soils, hazardous substances have
been removed from the Site so as to allow for unlimited use and
unrestricted exposures within the Site, the Site is protective of
public health and the environment, and no further remedial action is
needed at the Site. Accordingly, EPA will not conduct operation and
maintenance activities or five-year reviews at this Site.
EPA, with concurrence of FDEP, has determined that all appropriate
actions at the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site have been
completed, and that no further remedial action is necessary. Therefore,
EPA is proposing deletion of the Site from the NPL.
Dated: March 16, 1998.
John H. Hankinson, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, USEPA Region 4.
[FR Doc. 98-7307 Filed 3-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U
