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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5061-8]

National Oil and Hazardous, Substances Pollution Contingency

Plan; National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, Lee

County, Iowa from the National Priorities List: Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region 7 announces

its intent to delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, located in Lee

County, Iowa from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests

public comment on this action. The NPL constitutes appendix B to the

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan (NCP),

40 CFR part 300, which the EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of

the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability

Act (CERCLA), as amended. The reason this action is being taken is that

Superfund Remedial Activities have been completed.

DATES: Comments concerning this site may be submitted on or before

September 29, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Michael J. Sanderson, Acting

Director, Waste Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection

Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas 66101.

Additional Information: Comprehensive information on this site is

available through the EPA Region 7 public docket, which is located in

the EPA's Region 7 office and is available for viewing by appointment

only 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 formally

to the EPA Region 7 docket office.

The address for the Regional docket office is: U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas

66101.

Background information from the Regional public docket is also

available for viewing at the Dupont County Road X23 Site information

repository which is located with: Idol Rashid Memorial Branch, Fort

Madison Public Libraries, 3421 Avenue L, Fort Madison, Iowa 52627.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul Roemerman. U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency, Region 7, 726 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, Kansas

66101, (913) 551-7694.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

III. Deletion Procedures

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

I. Introduction

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 7 announces its

intent to delete the Dupont County Road X23 Site, Lee County, Iowa

Site, from the National Priorities List (NPL), which constitutes

Appendix B of the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution

Contingency Plan (NCP), and requests comments on this deletion. The 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 those sites. Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions

financed by the Hazardous Substance Response Fund (Fund). Pursuant to

Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the National Contingency Plan (NCP), any site

deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial

actions if future conditions at the site warrant such action.

The EPA will accept comments on its intention to delete this site

from the NPL for thirty days after the publication of this notice in

the Federal Register.

Section II of this notice explains the criteria for deleting sites

from the NPL. Section III discusses the procedures that the EPA is

using for this action. Section IV discusses how the site meets the

deletion criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

The NCP establishes the criteria that EPA uses to delete sites from

the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), sites may be deleted

from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making this

determination, EPA, in consultation with the State, will consider

whether any of the following criteria have been met:

(i) Responsible parties or other persons have implemented all

appropriate response actions required; or

(ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have 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 of remedial measures is not appropriate.

Section 121(f)(1)(C) of CERCLA, and Sec. 300.425(e)(2) of the NCP

require State concurrence before deleting a site from the NPL.

Deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude eligibility for

subsequent Fund-financed actions if future conditions warrant such

actions. Section 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP states: ``All releases

deleted from the NPL are eligible for further Fund-financed remedial

actions should future conditions warrant such action. Whenever there is

a significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the site shall

be restored to the NPL, without application of the HRS [hazard ranking

system].''

Deletion of sites from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or

revoke any individual's rights or obligations. The NPL is designed

primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management.

As mentioned in Section I of this notice, Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP

makes clear that deletion of a site from the NPL does not preclude

eligibility for future Fund-financed response actions.

III. Deletion Procedures

EPA Region 7 will accept and evaluate public comments before making

the final decision to delete the site from the NPL. The Agency believes

that deletion procedures should focus on notice and comment at the

local level. Comments from the local community are likely to be the

most pertinent to deletion decisions. The following procedures were

used for the intended deletion of the site:

1. EPA Region 7 has recommended the deletion and prepared the

relevant documents.

2. The State of Iowa has concurred with the deletion decision.

3. Concurrent with this National Notice of Intent to Delete a

notice has been published in local and community newspapers and has

been distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and

other interested parties. This notice announces a thirty (30) day

public comment period on the deletion package, which starts two weeks

from September 13, 1994 and which will conclude on September 29, 1994.

4. The Region has made all relevant documents available in the

Regional Office and local site information repository.

The comments received during the notice and comment period will be

evaluated before the final decision to delete is made. The Region will

prepare a Responsiveness Summary, if necessary, which will address any

comments received during the public comment period.

A deletion will occur after the Regional Administrator places a

notice in the Federal Register. The NPL will reflect any deletions in

the next final update. Public notices and copies of the Responsiveness

Summary will be made available to local residents by Region 7.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for

recommending deletion of the Dupont County Road X23, Lee County, Iowa

Site, from the NPL.

The DuPont County Road X23 Site is located near West Point, Lee

County, Iowa. The site is comprised of two subsites, the Baier and the

McCarl subsites, located within one mile of each other on County Road

X23. The Baier and McCarl subsites are located within NE\1/4\, SW\1/4\,

Section 28, Township 68 North, Range 5 West and SE\1/4\, SW\1/4\,

Section 22 Township 68 North, Range 5 West, respectively.

DuPont contracted with Charles Knoch to haul and dispose of paint

wastes from its Fort Madison plant during the period 1949-53.

(Following this DuPont contracted to have the waste taken to the Strunk

Farm which was cleaned up voluntarily in 1981 by DuPont.) DuPont

estimates that 48,000 to 72,000 55-gallon drums of waste were disposed

of at the two subsites. The Baier subsite, owned at that time by Mr.

Knoch's sister, was the primary disposal site. In inclement weather

when the Baier subsite was inaccessible, Mr. Knoch would use the McCarl

subsite. The McCarl subsite was purchased by DuPont in 1986 to prevent

a home being built on the site.

The paint waste was placed in trenches and burned. DuPont estimates

that as a result of incomplete burning 4,500 to 7,000 tons of ash might

remain on the site.

The Baier site was listed as a potentially, uncontrolled, hazardous

waste site in the Eckhardt Subcommittee Report in November 1979.

The site was placed on the NPL with a hazard ranking System (HRS)

score of 46.01 on August 30, 1990, 55 FR 169.

A Preliminary Assessment (PA) of the Baier Farm was conducted in

September 1980 by the U.S. EPA Field Investigative Team (FIT).

A Field Investigation of the Baier Farm was conducted by FIT in

April 1983. Soil sample analysis found seven priority pollutant metals

in concentrations exceeding background (concentrations ranged from 90

to 18,000 ppm). Also detected were six priority pollutant organics in

soil samples (with concentrations up to 220,000 ppb).

On March 28, 1984, EPA sent an information request letter to DuPont

regarding the waste site. DuPont's response indicated another possible

waste site at the McCarl property on Chalkridge Road.

In July 1985 FIT oversaw the installation of three ground water

monitoring wells at the Baier Site. Analyses of ground water samples

collected from the wells showed elevated levels of aluminum, barium,

calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, iron, manganese and lead. A

second round of sampling of these wells in 1986 resulted in similar

findings, with chromium exceeding the Maximum Contaminant Levels (MCLs)

set forth in 40 CFR part 141. Downstream surface water samples showed

high concentrations of metals including lead and chromium.

The Preliminary Assessment for the McCarl subsite was conducted in

January 1985 by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources.

FIT conducted the Site Investigation for the McCarl subsite in July

1986, including the installation and sampling of three ground water

monitoring wells. Analysis of soil samples from the investigation

showed concentrations in excess of background for barium, cadmium,

chromium, lead, copper, manganese, selenium and zinc. Analysis of

ground water samples showed concentrations in excess of MCLs for

antimony (32 times the MCL), cadmium, chromium, selenium. Other metals

were also detected. DuPont sampled the McCarl ground water wells in

July 1988 and found higher levels of selenium than found by FIT.

A Special Notice letter for RI/FS negotiations was sent to DuPont

on January 31, 1989.

The EPA issued a Unilateral Administrative Order (UAO) to DuPont on

July 5, 1989. The UAO required a removal action at the Baier/Fedler

subsite and an RI/FS for both subsites. The Removal Action was

indefinitely deferred in February 7, 1990, in an amendment to the UAO.

RI/FS activities were completed in January 1991. As part of the RI/

FS a Baseline Risk Assessment was performed, based on data from the RI,

to evaluate the potential risks to human health posed by potential soil

and ground water contamination at the Site. An ecological risk

assessment was prepared in conjunction with the Baseline Risk

Assessment. Protective concentrations of contaminants were established,

based on residential exposure for both the average and reasonable

worst-case scenarios. Action levels (cleanup criteria) based on these

exposure scenarios were then developed for soils at the Site.

The Baseline Risk Assessment indicated that ground water

contamination posed no threat to human health because of the lack of a

complete exposure pathway due to the lack of yield from the

contaminated water bearing unit. Few receptor wells exist in the Site

vicinity. Furthermore, the nearby residential wells, sampled

periodically, indicated that metals and volatile organic compounds were

below all regulatory health-based standards. The ``no-action''

alternative was selected for ground water.

Based on the completed RI/FS, the ROD was issued on May 28, 1991,

and EPA successfully negotiated a Consent Decree (lodged February 25,

1992, entered April 23, 1992, Case Number 3-92-CV-10028 in the United

States District Court, Southern District of Iowa, Davenport Division)

for Remedial Design/Remedial Action (RD/RA) activities with DuPont.

DuPont completed the RA at the Site in September 1993. As required by

the ROD, the RA included: (1) All surface waste materials not amenable

to the selected technology, such as metal, grinding balls, and paint

cans, were to be removed and disposed at an off-site RCRA-permitted

hazardous waste landfill prior to stabilization/ solidification,

(2) Construction of an on-site waste disposal cell,

(3) Stabilization/solidification of contaminated soils and

placement in the on-site disposal cell, and

(4) Construction of a soil cap over the disposal cell. Restrictions

on the future use and development of the Site were included to ensure

the integrity of the cover and the underlying, solidified soil mass and

to prevent human contact with treated soils.

EPA in consultation with the State of Iowa, has determined that all

fund-financed response activities under CERCLA at the Dupont County

Road X23 Site, Lee County, Iowa have been completed, and that no

further response is necessary. Therefore, it is proposed that the Site

be deleted from the NPL.

Dated: August 1, 1994.

Dennis Grams,

Regional Administrator, Region 7.

[FR Doc. 94-21366 Filed 8-29-94; 8:45 am]

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