[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 122 (Friday, June 25, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 34180-34183]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-15976]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-6365-6]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List Update
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Munisport Landfill Superfund
Site from the National Priorities List (NPL); request for comments.
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SUMMARY: EPA, Region IV, announces its intent to delete the Munisport
Landfill Superfund (Site) in North Miami, Dade County, Florida, from
the NPL and requests public comment on this action. The NPL constitutes
Appendix B, 40 CFR Part 300; the National Oil and Hazardous Substances
Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP) promulgated by the United States
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to Section 105 of the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of
1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA and the Florida Department of
Environmental Protection (FDEP) have determined that all appropriate
response actions under CERCLA have been implemented by the Potentially
Responsible Party, the City of North Miami, and that no further
response actions under CERCLA are needed. Moreover, EPA and the FDEP
have determined that the remedial actions conducted at the Site to date
are protective of human health and the environment, such that further
federal response under CERCLA is not warranted.
DATES: Comments on the proposed deletion from the NPL should be
submitted on or before July 26, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Kevin S. Misenheimer, Remedial
Project Manager, South Site Management Branch, Waste Management
Division, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, 61 Forsyth
St., SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the
EPA, Region IV, public docket located at the regional office. The
deletion docket is available for viewing, by appointment, from 9:00
a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Requests
for appointments or copies of the background information from the EPA
regional office should be directed to Debbie Jourdan, EPA, Region IV,
docket office at 61 Forsyth St, SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303. Ms. Jourdan
may also be contacted by telephone at (404) 562-8862.
The Deletion Docket and background information from the regional
public docket is also available for viewing at the Site information
repository located at Florida International University, North Campus
Library, 3000 NE 145th St, North Miami, FL 33181-3601. Appointments can
be scheduled to review the documents locally by contacting the library
at (305) 919-5726.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Kevin S. Misenheimer, Remedial Project
Manager, EPA, Region IV, 61 Forsyth St. SW, Atlanta, Georgia 30303,
(404) 562-8922.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
I. Introduction
EPA, Region IV, announces its intent to delete the Munisport
Landfill Superfund Site from the NPL (Appendix B of the NCP), and
requests public comment on this proposed action. EPA identifies sites
that pose a significant threat to public health, welfare, or the
environment and maintains an inventory of these sites through the NPL.
Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions financed by the
Hazardous Substances Superfund Response Trust Fund (Fund). Pursuant to
40 CFR 300.66(c) (8), any site deleted
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from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions if new
or changing conditions warrant such actions.
In view of EPA's findings from the Remedial Investigation (RI) and
Baseline Risk Assessment, and based on the results from the 1996
reassessment of the Preserve, there is nothing that would prevent
unlimited use and unrestricted exposure at the site pursuant to CERCLA.
Therefore, no five-year review of the site is needed. EPA believes data
used to make this determination is consistent with, and in some cases
exceeds, the database used to develop the original Record of Decision
(ROD). EPA will accept comments concerning the proposed deletion of
this site from the NPL until July 26, 1999.
Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures EPA is using
for this action. Section IV discusses the Munisport Landfill 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), releases may
be deleted from 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 are met:
Responsible or other parties have implemented all
appropriate actions required; or
All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have
been implemented, and no further cleanup by responsible parties is
appropriate, or
The remedial investigation has shown that the release
poses no significant threat to public health, welfare, or the
environment, and therefore, the taking of additional remedial measures
is not appropriate.
III. Deletion Procedures
EPA, Region IV, will accept and evaluate public comments before
making a final decision to delete this Site from the NPL. Comments from
the local community may be the most pertinent to the deletion decision.
The following procedures were used for the intended deletion of this
Site:
All appropriate response under CERCLA has been implemented
and no further action by EPA is appropriate.
EPA, Region IV, has recommended deletion and has prepared
the relevant documents.
The State has concurred with the proposed deletion
decision.
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 announcing the commencement of a 30-day public
comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete.
The Region has made all relevant documents available in
the Regional Office and local site information repository.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself, create, alter, or
revoke an individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed
primarily for information purposes and to assist Agency management. As
mentioned in Section II of this document, 40 CFR 300.425(e)(3) provides
that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for
future Fund-financed response actions nor does it preclude future State
action pursuant to State law.
The comments received on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete during
the notice and comment period will be evaluated by EPA before making
the final decision to delete. The Region will prepare a Responsiveness
Summary, if necessary, to address any comments received during the
public comment period.
A deletion occurs when the EPA Regional Administrator publishes a
final document in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect
deletions in the final update following this Notice of Intent. Public
notices and copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available
to local residents by Region IV.
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion
The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposal to delete this site from the NPL.
The Munisport Landfill is the location of a former municipal
landfill that operated from 1974 to 1981. The landfill resulted from
the filling of low-lying wetland areas with construction debris and
solid waste in an effort to raise the elevation of the land for the
construction of a cultural and trade center known as Interama. Failure
of the Interama project led to subsequent municipal development efforts
by Munisport, Inc. The United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) first became involved with this project in the late 1970's when
it opposed the Army Corps of Engineers' plans for a modification of the
developer's dredge and fill permit to allow for the use of solid waste
as fill material, in addition to the already permitted construction
debris. Due to the potential for the release of hazardous substances,
pollutants, or contaminants to the environment, EPA placed the Site on
the National Priorities List (NPL) in 1983 for cleanup under the
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act
of 1980 (CERCLA).
EPA's thorough investigation of the site during the late 1980's led
EPA to the conclusion that, although the Site did not pose a threat to
human health, the migration of landfill-leachate to the underlying
groundwater and adjacent wetland posed a significant threat to the
environment. This was due to the fact that the leachate-contaminated
groundwater contained elevated levels of un-ionized ammonia which is
highly toxic to aquatic organisms. Although other chemicals were
detected in the leachate, concentrations of these chemicals were below
levels that would present a threat to the environment. In an effort to
abate the threat posed by the ammonia-contaminated leachate, EPA issued
a Record of Decision (ROD) for the Munisport Landfill Superfund Site in
July 1990. The ROD provided for the interception of leachate-
contaminated groundwater through a hydraulic barrier prior to its
discharge to the adjacent wetlands. The remedy also provided for the
tidal restoration of a portion of wetlands that are a part of the
Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve (i.e., State Mangrove Preserve) and a
portion of wetlands that were hydrologically altered by the former
construction of a dike during the landfill operations (i.e., altered
wetlands). The City of North Miami subsequently entered into a Consent
Decree with the United States of America in 1991 to perform the cleanup
prescribed in the ROD. The Superfund Site was defined in the ROD as the
release of hazardous substances from the landfill into the Mangrove
Preserve and that portion of the landfill needed to implement the
CERCLA remedy.
Through the mid-1990s, the City completed the tidal restoration of
the State Mangrove Preserve, construction of a service road, and
installation of the wells for the hydraulic barrier. Removal of two 40-
foot wide sections of the causeway and 60-inch culverts originally
installed in the late-1960's was completed in 1995, thus restoring the
tidal flow from Biscayne Bay with the State Mangrove Preserve.
Monitoring of the surface water quality in Biscayne Bay and the
Preserve was conducted both before and after the removal of the two
sections of the causeway. Results of the water sampling conducted as
part of the surface water
[[Page 34182]]
monitoring indicated that the tidal restoration of the Mangrove
Preserve had a greater affect on the mitigation of the toxicity of the
landfill leachate to aquatic organisms in the preserve than originally
anticipated.
Reassessment of water quality and toxicity in the Mangrove Preserve
showed that there has been a significant reduction in the ammonia
contamination and toxicity formerly documented by EPA in the Water
Quality and Toxic Assessment Study, Mangrove Preserve, 1989, report.
The scope of the reassessment incorporated critical elements of the
1989 study and was refined based on information collected during the
remedial design studies and treatability studies. Most importantly, EPA
concluded that these studies established the cause of the toxicity
documented in the 1989 study. Concerns had been expressed by EPA, other
agencies, and members of the community that not all of the toxicity
documented in 1989 may have been the result of elevated levels of
ammonia and that some of the toxicity may be associated with elevated
levels of metals, organic compounds, or other toxicants. However, EPA
has concluded that data collected during the design and treatability
study show that the toxicity documented in the 1989 studies was the
result of elevated levels of ammonia, potentially compounded by low
levels of dissolved oxygen in the water.
The 1996 reassessment included screening of 12 sampling locations,
which were monitored in the 1989 study, for the presence of ammonia and
other water quality parameters. Four samples were collected from the
Preserve that represented a range of high to low ammonia
concentrations. Samples were also collected from the confluence of the
east and west causeway breaches in Biscayne Bay and three reference
points in Biscayne Bay. Samples were collected from these stations
during high and low tides. The samples were analyzed for ammonia,
organic compounds, metals, pesticides, and polychlorinated biphenyls.
Toxicity tests were also conducted using a coastal minnow, Menidia
beryllina, and a single cell species of algae, Minutocellus
polymorphus. Changes in the hydrology of the Mangrove Preserve were
also evaluated. Results from the 1996 reassessment confirmed that
implementation of the Mangrove Preserve tidal restoration component of
the remedy substantially reduced the ammonia concentrations and
toxicity formerly documented in the surface waters of the Preserve. Due
to concerns that the ammonia levels and toxicity may have been masked
by summer rainfall, EPA resampled the Preserve locations on March 6,
1997, during an extended dry period. The samples were analyzed for
ammonia and were consistent with the data collected in August 1996.
EPA believes that results from the August 1996 and March 1997
studies confirm that indeed there has been a significant reduction in
the ammonia levels and toxicity originally documented in the 1989
study, such that no further action under Superfund is warranted. A copy
of the Water Quality and Toxicity Reassessment Study, Mangrove
Preserve, Munisport Landfill, April 1997, report, which provides a
detailed discussion of the results, is available for review in the
Deletion Docket for this site.
As a result of this determination, a no further action amendment to
the ROD under CERCLA was signed September 5, 1997. Therefore, cleanup
of the site under CERCLA is now complete. Issuance of the ROD Amendment
serves as certification of completion of all remedial activities at the
Munisport Landfill Site, as well as, a final Site Close-Out Report. No
institutional controls, long-term groundwater monitoring, or Five-Year
Reviews, are required under CERCLA, because no hazardous substances
remain at the Site as defined in the ROD that would result in unlimited
use and restricted exposures.
Community Involvement
The Munisport Landfill Superfund project has involved extensive
community participation dating back to the early 1980's. Over the years
various community-based organizations such as homeowner associations
and activist groups, as well as, local chapters of national
environmental organizations have commented on various aspects of the
project. Sections 5.0 and 3.0 of the ROD and ROD Amendment,
respectively, describe the extensive community involvement that has
occurred over the years.
After the issuance of the ROD, EPA continued to involve the
community in the remedial process. The community's main group is the
Munisport Dump Coalition (MDC), the recipient of a Technical Assistance
Grant (TAG) from EPA. Through the MDC, the community has had an
opportunity to comment on documents required by the National
Contingency Plan (NCP), and other documents relating to the design and
construction of components of the remedy set forth in the ROD. In an
effort to encourage community participation throughout the process, EPA
has issued several deviations from the original $50,000 grant, bringing
the total funding for the TAG to $150,000.
In addition to the coordination with the MDC, EPA has also worked
with representatives of local groups such as the Friends of the Oleta
River, Keystone Point Homeowners Association, Highland Village
Homeowners Association, Florida and Tropical Audubon Societies, and
Concerned Citizens for the Public Use of Munisport. EPA has also held
numerous public and technical meetings and issued numerous fact sheets
to keep the community apprized of the progress and to solicit input
during the design and construction process.
The community has also been involved in this project through the
Consent Decree entered by the United States District Court in 1992.
Although the only parties to the Consent Decree are the United States
of America and the City of North Miami, the District Court has allowed
interested non-parties in the community to file information and express
concerns with regard to the implementation of the remedy set forth in
the ROD.
Applicable Deletion Criteria
One of the three criteria for site deletion, 40 CFR
300.425(e)(l)(ii), specifies that EPA may delete a site from the NPL if
``all appropriate Fund-Financed Response under CERCLA has been
implemented, and no further response action by responsible parties is
appropriate''. EPA, with the concurrence of FDEP, believes that this
criterion for deletion has been met and the site is protective of human
health and the environment. Subsequently, EPA is proposing the deletion
of this site from the NPL. Documents supporting this action are
available for review in the docket.
State Concurrence
The Florida Department of Environmental Protection concurs with the
proposed deletion of the Munisport Landfill Superfund Site from the
NPL. Although EPA issued an amendment to the ROD in September 1997 that
provided for no further action under CERCLA, proper closure of the
landfill and response to groundwater contamination is warranted in
accordance with State and local regulations. EPA continues to encourage
the State and County in this effort. Reports that contain extensive
Site characterization information are available for review, along with
the ROD and ROD Amendment, in the Administrative Record for this Site
and are located with the deletion docket.
[[Page 34183]]
Dated: May 26, 1999.
John H. Hankinson, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, Region IV.
[FR Doc. 99-15976 Filed 6-24-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
