[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 171 (Tuesday, September 3, 1996)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 46418-46419]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-21823]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5557-7]
National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan National
Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Seldon Clark Property from the
General Electric/Shepherd Farm Superfund Site from the National
Priorities List (NPL).
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region IV,
announces its intent to delete the Seldon Clark Property from the
General Electric/Shepherd Farm 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),
promulgated by EPA, pursuant to Section 105 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) of
1980, as amended. EPA and the State of North Carolina Department of
Environment, Health, and Natural Resources have determined that the
Seldon Clark Property poses no significant threat to public health or
the environment and therefore, CERCLA remedial measures are not
appropriate.
DATES: Comments must be submitted by October 3, 1996.
ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Giezelle S. Bennett, Remedial
Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region IV, 345
Courtland Street, NE, Atlanta, GA 30365.
Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the EPA
Region IV public docket, which is located at EPA's Region IV 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 IV docket office.
The address for the regional docket office is Ms. Debbie Jourdan,
U.S. EPA, Region IV, 345 Courtland St, NE, Atlanta, GA 30365. The
telephone number is 404-347-5059, ext 6217.
Background information from the regional public docket is also
available for viewing at the Site information repository located at the
Henderson County Public Library, 301 N. Washington Street,
Hendersonville, NC 28792. The telephone number is 704-697-4725. The
library is open Monday through Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m.,
and on Friday and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Please contact either Giezelle Bennett
or Diane Barrett, U.S. EPA, Region IV, 345 Courtland Street, N.E.,
Atlanta, GA 30365, 1-800-435-9233 ext. 2065 or 2073.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Introduction
This notice is to announce EPA's intent to delete the Seldon Clark
Property portion of the General Electric/Shepherd Farm Superfund Site
from the NPL. It also serves to request public comments on the deletion
proposal. EPA will accept comments on this proposed action for deletion
for thirty days after publication of this document in the Federal
Register.
EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk to
public health, welfare, or 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.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from
the NPL. In accordance with Section 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 IV 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 the Seldon Clark
Property portion of the General Electric/Shepherd Farm Site: (1) EPA
Region IV has recommended deletion and has prepared the relevant
documents. (2) The State has concurred with the decision to delete the
Seldon Clark property. (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 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
[[Page 46419]]
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 IV.
IV. Basis for Intended Seldon Clark Property Deletion
The following Site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the
proposed intent for partial deletion of this Site from the NPL.
The General Electric/Shepherd Farm Site consists of three non-
contiguous disposal areas in East Flat Rock, Henderson County, North
Carolina. These disposal areas (subsites) are known as the GE property,
the Shepherd Farm property, and the Seldon Clark property.
The GE Subsite is approximately 50 acres in size and located at the
southeastern corner of Spartanburg Highway and Tabor Road. The Shepherd
Farm Subsite is approximately 31 acres in size and is located on Roper
Road, approximately 2500 feet southwest of the GE Subsite.
The Seldon Clark Subsite is 1 acre in size and is located at the
northeastern corner of Spartanburg Highway and Tabor Road, directly
across the street from the GE Subsite. Geographically, the center of
the subsite is located at 35 deg.16'35''N latitude and 82 deg.25'00''W
longitude according to the Hendersonville, North Carolina, USGS 7.5
minute topographic map.
From 1955 to present, the GE facility has been used to develop,
design, and manufacture complete high intensity discharge luminaire
systems, which consists of the assembly of optical components,
ballasts, mountings, and high mast lowering devices. From about 1955
until 1975, GE also manufactured ``constant-current'' transformers at
this facility. These transformers were filled with PCB-containing oil,
which were delivered to the facility in railroad tank cars.
Waste streams generated by GE's facility from the beginning of
plant operations have included construction wastes, buffing compound,
epoxy compound, phenolic residue, paint sludges, PCB capacitors,
solvents, transformer oil, electrical insulators/capacitors, waste
acids, dye cast mold released hydrocarbons, heavy petroleum greases,
and varnish residues. These waste streams contain many VOCs, heavy
metals, acids, and PCBs.
The GE facility contains three landfills, two unlined wastewater
treatment ponds, 26 acres of landspreading plots, and 18 areas where
underground storage tanks were located. From approximately 1957 to
1970, GE wastes were also intermittently deposited at the Shepherd Farm
property where it was dumped, burned, and bulldozed in an approximate
3-acre area onsite. The Spring Haven community was later constructed
over a portion of this dumping area.
During the 1960s and early 1970s, GE wastes were also dumped in an
approximate 0.3 acre ravine on the Seldon Clark property. GE reported
that the property was used for the disposal of construction rubble
only, but according to Mr. Clark, the ravine was also filled in with
drums of aluminum paint and drums of cleaning fluid from dye-casting
machinery. Old transformers are also reported to have been deposited in
the ravine. However, none of these items were found during EPA's
investigation.
In 1988 and 1989, EPA conducted Site Inspections and investigations
at all three Subsites. The Site was proposed for inclusion on the NPL
in February 1992 and finalized on the NPL in December 1994.
EPA performed a Remedial Investigation of all three subsites in
September 1994. This Notice of Intent to Delete (NOID) is limited to
the Seldon Clark Subsite.
Five soil samples were collected from two soil borings on the
Seldon Clark Subsite. Semi-volatile organic compounds, pesticides and
PCBs were found, but all were at concentrations under the soil cleanup
levels (SCLs) determined in the feasibility study. One surface water/
sediment sample was taken downgradient of this Subsite. Again, semi-
volatiles and PCBs were found at concentrations below the SCLs. One
groundwater sample was collected downgradient of the suspected fill
area. This sample contained one semi-volatile compound at trace
concentrations.
A Record of Decision (ROD) for the Site was signed on September 29,
1995. The ROD recommended soil and groundwater remediation at the GE
Subsite and the Shepherd Farm Subsite, but not for the Seldon Clark
Subsite.
The EPA community relations activities at the Site included a
public meeting on August 3, 1995 to present to the public the Agency's
Proposed Plan for remediation at the Site. Public comments received
during the 60-day public comment period were considered and addressed
in the Responsiveness Summary. This document was included as an
appendix to the ROD.
There are no institutional controls for this Subsite. A five-year
review will not be conducted at the Subsite, due to the fact that soil
and groundwater contaminants are below the SCLs. The concentrations
found in the samples taken do not present a current or future threat to
public health or the environment.
EPA, with concurrence of the State of North Carolina, has
determined that all appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA
for the Seldon Clark Subsite have been completed, and that no further
activities by responsible parties are appropriate. Therefore, EPA
proposes to delete this Subsite from the NPL.
Dated: June 11, 1996.
A. Stanley Meiburg,
Deputy Regional Administrator, Region IV, U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency.
[FR Doc. 96-21823 Filed 8-30-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P
