[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 158 (Monday, August 17, 1998)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 43900-43901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-22060]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-6146-2]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete a portion of the Sangamo Weston/
Twelve Mile Creek/Lake Hartwell (Sangamo) Superfund Site from the
National Priorities List (NPL).
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA),
Region 4, announces its intent to partially delete a portion of the
Sangamo Superfund 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). EPA is pursuing a partial
deletion for the Sangamo Superfund Site based on a policy change
intended to support economic redevelopment for Superfund sites. This
partial deletion will be for an unused portion of the site (across
Sangamo Road from the plant property) and also includes three of the
six remote properties which are within a few miles of the plant
property. The three remote properties proposed for deletion are
Trotter, Nix, and Welborn properties. There is no groundwater
contamination at the areas proposed for deletion. EPA and the State of
South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control have
determined that these areas pose no significant threat to public health
or the environment and therefore, CERCLA remedial measures are not
appropriate for the unused tract of land, and no further remedial
measures are necessary for the three remote properties.
DATES: EPA will accept comments concerning the Sangamo Site partial
deletion proposal until September 16, 1998.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Sheri Panabaker, US EPA, Region
4, 61 Forsyth St., WD-NSMB, SW, Atlanta, GA, 30303.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA
Region 4 public docket, which is located at EPA's Region 4 office and
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 regional public docket
should be directed to the EPA Region 4 docket office.
The address for the regional docket office is: U.S. EPA, Region 4,
61 Forsyth St., SW, Atlanta, GA, 30303, attn: Ms. Debbie Jourdan. The
telephone number is 404-562-8862.
Background information from the regional public docket is also
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at the
following locations: R.M. Cooper Library, Clemson University, South
Palmetto Boulvard, Clemson, SC (864) 656-5174; Pickens County Public
Library, Easley Branch, 110 West First Avenue, Easley, SC (864) 850-
7077; Hart County Library, 150 Benson Street, Hartwell, GA (706) 376-
4655.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact either Sheri Panabaker
(Remedial Project Manager) or Cynthia Peurifoy (Community Relations
Coordinator) at 1-800-435-9233 or 404-562-8810. E-mail address is
panabaker.sheri@epamail.epa.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
This document is to announce EPA's intent to delete a portion of
the Sangamo Site from the NPL. It also serves to request public
comments on the partial deletion proposal.
EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk to
public health, welfare, or the environment and maintains the NPL as the
list of these sites. Sites on the NPL qualify for remedial responses
financed by the Hazardous Substances Response Trust Fund (Fund). As
described in Sec. 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 will accept
comments on the proposal to delete a site from the NPL for thirty days
after publication of this document in the Federal Register.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from
the NPL. In accordance with Sec. 300.425(e) of the NCP, sites may be
deleted from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In
making this determination, EPA, in consultation with the State,
considers whether the site has met any of the following criteria for
site deletion:
(i) Responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate
response actions required;
(ii) All appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been
implemented and no further response actions are deemed necessary; or
(iii) The remedial investigation has determined that the release
poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and,
therefore, no remedial action is appropriate.
III. Deletion Procedures
EPA Region 4 will accept and evaluate public comments before making
a final decision to delete. Comments from the local community may be
the most pertinent to deletion decisions. The following procedures were
used for the intended deletion of a portion of the Sangamo Site:
(1) EPA Region 4 has recommended this partial deletion and has
prepared the relevant documents.
(2) The State concurs with the decision to delete a portion of the
Sangamo Site.
(3) Concurrent with this announcement, a notice has been published
in the local newspaper and has been distributed to appropriate federal,
state, and local officials
[[Page 43901]]
announcing the commencement of a 30-day public comment period on the
Notice of Intent to Delete.
(4) EPA has made all relevant documents available for public review
at the information repository and in the Regional Office.
Partial deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create,
alter, or revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is
designed primarily for information purposes and to assist EPA
management. As mentioned earlier, section 300.425(e)(30) of the NCP
states that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude
eligibility of the site for future Fund-financed response actions.
For the partial deletion of this site, EPA will accept and evaluate
public comments on this Notice of Intent to Delete before finalizing
the decision. The Agency will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to
address any significant public comments received during the comment
period. The deletion is finalized after the Regional Administrator
places a Notice of Deletion in the Federal Register.
The NPL will reflect any deletions in the next publication of the
final rule. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness Summary
will be made available to local residents by Region 4.
IV. Basis for Intended Sangamo Site Partial Deletion
The following Site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposed intent for partial deletion of this Site from the NPL.
The Sangamo site (Site) is located in Pickens County, South
Carolina. Sangamo Weston, Inc. owned and operated a capacitor
manufacturing plant in Pickens, South Carolina from 1955 to 1987. In
its manufacturing processes, Sangamo used several varieties of
dielectric fluids which contained several varieties of polychlorinated
biphenyls (PCBs). PCBs reportedly enhanced the performance and
durability of the fluids. Waste disposal practices from the Sangamo
Plant included land-burial of off-specification capacitors and
wastewater treatment sludges on the plant site and six satellite
(remote) disposal areas within a 3-mile radius of the plant. Three of
these, which are proposed for deletion, are the Trotter, Nix, and
Welborn properties. PCBs were also discharged with the effluent
directly into Town Creek, which is a tributary of Twelvemile Creek.
Twelvemile Creek is a major tributary of the 56,000 acre Lake Hartwell.
As part of its overall strategy in addressing the Sangamo site, EPA
split the site into two Operable Units. Operable Unit One (OU1)
consists of the land-based source areas including the plant site and
the six satellite disposal areas. OU2 addresses the sediment and
biological impacts downstream of the land-based source areas.
The specific areas associated with this partial delisting include
only a portion of the soils for OU1. The areas proposed for delisting
(an unused tract of land across from the plant property, and three
remote properties, Trotter, Nix, and Welborn) have been the subject of
previous investigations. The majority of the investigatory and remedial
actions taken within the area targeted for partial delisting was
performed under a Consent Decree, dated April 15, 1992.
An RI/FS was initiated by the potentially responsible party
(Schlumberger Industries, Inc. (SII)) in 1988, which showed soils to be
primarily contaminated with PCBs, but there were also VOCs and metals
detected. The Record of Decision (ROD) was signed in December 1990
which stated that the contaminated soils would be treated by thermal
desorption. The groundwater at these three remote properties did not
pose a risk to human health or the environment and, therefore, remedial
action was not warranted for the groundwater.
Under a Consent Decree with SII signed in April 1992, the
contaminated soils were excavated from all six of the remote properties
between November 1993 and July 1994. The soils were excavated to 10
parts per million (ppm) for the remote properties (except for the
ravine parts of the Nix and Welborn properties, which were excavated to
1 ppm), and to 25 ppm on the plant property. Sampling to confirm the
effectiveness of the waste removal efforts showed that the performance
standards were achieved. The excavated areas were then backfilled with
clean soil. Treatment of all contaminated soils (from the six remote
properties and the plant property) by thermal desorption began in
December 1995, and was completed in May 1997. Approximately 60,000 tons
(40,000 cubic yards) of contaminated soils were treated to 2 ppm. The
cleanup level was confirmed through sampling of treated soils.
Samples collected from the unused property across the street from
the plant site did not detect any of the contaminants stated in the
ROD.
The remedial activities associated with removing contaminated soil
within the areas targeted for partial delisting at the Sangamo Site are
considered a permanent remedy. No additional treatment of soils within
these areas will be necessary. As such, no operation and maintenance
activities are necessary for these areas. Because no hazardous
substances, pollutants, or contaminants remain in the soils within the
areas targeted for partial delisting, no Five Year Review will be
performed on these areas.
EPA, in concurrence with the State of South Carolina Department of
Health & Environmental Control, has determined that all appropriate
Fund-financed responses under CERCLA for the soils within the areas
targeted for this partial deletion have been completed, and that no
further activities by responsible parties are appropriate. Therefore,
EPA proposes to delete these areas from the NPL.
Dated: August 6, 1998.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Deputy Regional Administrator, Region 4.
[FR Doc. 98-22060 Filed 8-14-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
