99-21008. National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan; National Priorities List

[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 157 (Monday, August 16, 1999)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 44456-44458]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21008]


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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-6420-8]


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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Tansitor Electronics site from 
the National Priority List; request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 1 announces 
its intent to delete the Tansitor Electronics Site from the National 
Priority 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 Vermont Agency of Natural Resources 
(Vermont ANR) 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 will be accepted on or before 
September 15, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Address comments to: Terrence Connelly, Remedial Project 
Manager, U.S. EPA Region 1, 1 Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA 
02114-2023.

[[Page 44457]]

    Comprehensive information concerning this Site is available through 
the EPA Region I public docket, which is located at EPA's Region I 
office. It is available for viewing by appointment only from Monday 
through Friday, excluding holidays. Requests for appointment or copies 
of the contents from the Regional public docket should be directed to 
the EPA Region I Records Center.
    The address for the Region I Records Center is: EPA Records Center, 
1 Congress Street, Suite 1100, Boston, MA 02114-2023, [phone].
    This information is also available for viewing at the Tansitor 
Electronics Site information repository at the following location: 
Bennington Free Library, 101 Silver Street, Bennington, Vermont 05201-
2403, [phone].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Terrence Connelly, U.S. EPA Region 1, 
at [phone].

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 1 announces its 
intent to delete the Tansitor Electronics Site in Bennington, Vermont 
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 which 
appear to be a significant risk to the public health and welfare or to 
the environment. The NPL is maintained as the list of these sites. As 
described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL 
remain eligible for remedial actions without application of the Hazard 
Ranking System (HRS) in the unlikely event that conditions at the site 
warrant such action.
    EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site from 
the NPL for thirty days following publication of this document in the 
Federal Register and in newspapers in the vicinity of Bennington, 
Vermont.
    Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting 
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that EPA is 
using for this action. Section IV discusses the history of the Tansitor 
Electronics Site, the remedial action which has been carried out, and 
explains the manner in which the Site meets the deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    Section 300.425(e)(1) of the NCP provides that sites may be deleted 
from, or recategorized on the NPL where no further remedial action is 
necessary. When deciding to delete a site from the NPL, EPA shall 
consider, in consultation with the state, whether the following 
criteria have been met:
    i. Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required;
    ii. All appropriate Fund-financed response under CERCLA has been 
implemented, and no further response 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 further 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, in accordance with CERCLA, 
EPA will conduct a review at least every five years after the 
initiation of the remedial action to ensure that the site remains 
protective of public health and the environment. In the case of the 
Tansitor Electronics Site, the selected remedy is protective of human 
health and the environment, but does not allow for unlimited and 
unrestricted use of the Site. Due to this condition, surveys of the 
Site will be conducted by the EPA and Vermont ANR to ensure that the 
remedial action is meeting the requirements of protecting human health 
and the environment. If new information becomes available which 
indicates a need for further action, EPA will initiate further 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

    EPA has taken the following steps in accordance with the agency's 
deletion procedures:
    i. EPA and Vermont ANR surveyed the Tansitor Electronics Site and 
declared that with the environmental easement, groundwater 
reclassification, and long-term monitoring in place, it presented no 
harm to human health or the environment. Following the survey, EPA 
prepared a Final Close-out Report which documented that no further 
remedial action is necessary.
    ii. EPA has obtained Vermont ANR concurrence with the proposed 
deletion decision;
    iii. A notice has been published in the local newspaper and has 
been distributed to state and local officials announcing the 
commencement of a 30-day public comment period of EPA's Notice of 
Intent to Delete;
    iv. All relevant documents have been made available for public 
review in the EPA Region 1 Records Center and in the local information 
repository.
    Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual's rights or responsibilities. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes and to assist EPA management. As 
mentioned in section II of this document, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP 
states that the deletion of a site from the NPL does not render the 
site ineligible for further response actions.
    Prior to deletion of the Tansitor Electronics Site, EPA's Region 1, 
will accept and evaluate public comments on EPA's Notice of Intent to 
Delete the Site before making a final decision to delete. If necessary, 
the EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to address any 
significant public comments received.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator or his or her 
designee 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 of Intended Site Deletion

    The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
proposal to delete this Site from the NPL.
    The Site consists of approximately 44 acres of land on West Road 
(Route 9) in the Town of Bennington, Vermont, and is approximately 3.5 
miles west of Bennington Center. Most of the Site is located to the 
north of Route 9, with the remainder of the Site located to the south 
of Route 9. The portion of the Site located to the south of Route 9 
consists of wetlands.
    The Site is located in an area zoned rural residential with a 
commercial corridor overlay along Route 9. As a manufacturing facility, 
Tansitor's industrial use of the Site represents a grandfathered non-
conforming use under the zoning laws. It is bounded to the north by 
privately owned woodland; to the east by Houran Road and a commercial 
property; to the south by wetlands; and to the west by agricultural/
residential areas. Pleasant

[[Page 44458]]

Valley School is located approximately 1,200 feet east and upgradient 
of the Site. Potable water supplies within the vicinity of the Site, 
including the water supply on the Site, are provided by private bedrock 
wells.
    Tansitor Electronics, Inc., currently manufactures electronic 
capacitors at the Site. Major site features include Tansitor's 
operating manufacturing/office building, an Etch House, a man-made pond 
(known as the Fire Pond), parking areas, a Solid Waste Disposal Area, a 
Disposal Area, a Concrete Pad Area, and a Borrow Area.
    Since the 1950's, various owners have used the Site as a 
manufacturing facility for electronic capacitors. Over the period from 
1956 and 1979 an estimated equivalent of 117 drums of process waste 
were disposed in the Disposal Area, with an occasional discharge of 
waste detergents and dilute acid solutions into the two leach fields or 
directly into the intermittent stream north of its manufacturing/office 
building, and some release of process wastes on the Concrete Pad.
    Prior to the remedial action, the risk assessment concluded that 
unacceptable carcinogenic and noncarcinogenic risks would result from 
ingestion of overburden groundwater for future residents. The risk is 
based on a future scenario since no individuals are currently ingesting 
contaminated groundwater at the Site.
    After conducting a Remedial Investigation, a Record of Decision 
(ROD) was issued in 1995 for the Tansitor Electronics Site. The 
Remedial Action Objectives selected were intended to prevent exposure 
to the groundwater, prevent migration offsite, and to restore 
groundwater to drinking water standards if technically practicable. 
These objectives have been met by the following actions:
     Implementation of an environmental easement to prevent the 
use of contaminated groundwater;
     Long-term monitoring of groundwater on a regular basis to 
evaluate changes in conditions over time;
     Establishment of contingencies for future additional 
investigation or further action should the long-term monitoring reveal 
that contaminants have migrated beyond their current vertical or 
horizontal extent; and
     A review of the Site every five years to ensure that the 
remedy remains protective of human health and the environment.
    In addition to the environmental easement, the November 23, 1993 
(and subsequently modified on March 15, 1994) Vermont Groundwater 
Reclassification Order also serves to restrict use of the Site 
groundwater.
    The environmental easement was recorded into the Bennington County 
Registry of Deeds. Monitoring for the Groundwater Reclassification 
Order began in May 1994. The monitoring was then adjusted in October 
1998 to meet the long-term monitoring requirement of the Record of 
Decision.
    As noted in section II above, EPA may delete a site from the NPL 
when ``Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all 
appropriate response actions required''. As EPA, with Vermont ANR 
concurrence, has determined that this criterion is met, EPA announces 
its intent to delete the Tansitor Electronics Site from the National 
Priorities List.

    Dated: August 2, 1999.
Patricia L. Meaney,
Director, Office of Site Remediation and Restoration.
[FR Doc. 99-21008 Filed 8-13-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P