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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5090-1]

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;

National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Northwestern States Portland

Cement Company (NWSPCC) Site, Mason City, Iowa from the National

Priorities List: Request for Comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VII

announces its intent to delete the NWSPCC Site, Mason City, Iowa from

the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comment on this

action. The NPL constitutes appendix B of 40 CFR part 300 which is the

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

which the EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive

Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980

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

Superfund Remedial Activities have been completed and no further

response is appropriate.

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

November 18, 1994.

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

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

Agency, Region VII, 726 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas 66101.

Comprehensive information on this site is available through the EPA

Region VII public docket, which is located in the EPA's Region VII

office and is available for viewing by appointment only from 9 a.m. to

4 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 VII docket

office.

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

Protection Agency, Region VII 726 Minnesota Avenue, Kansas City, Kansas

66101.

Background information from the Regional public docket is also

available for viewing at the NWSPCC Site information repository which

is located with: Mason City Public Library, 225 2nd SE., Mason City, IA

50401.

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

Protection Agency, Region VII 726 Minnesota Avenue, 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 Deletions

I. Introduction

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Region VII announces its

intent to delete the NWSPCC Site, Mason City, Iowa, 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 proposed 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 conditions at the site warrant such action.

The EPA will accept comments on this site 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) That 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 300.425(e)(2) of the NCP requires State concurrence before

deleting a site from the NPL.

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

revoke any individuals rights or obligations. The NPL is designed

primarily for informational purposes and to assist Agency management.

As is mentioned in Section II of this document, 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

The EPA Region VII 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. The EPA Region VII 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 November 3,

1994, and which will conclude on December 5, 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 VII.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for

recommending deletion of the Northwestern States Portland Cement

Company Site, Mason City, Iowa, from the NPL.

Northwestern States Portland Cement Company (NWSPCC), owns and

operates a cement manufacturing facility on the north side of Mason

City, Iowa. The facility has been in operation since 1908. A byproduct

of the cement manufacturing process since 1969 is cement kiln dust

(CKD). The West Quarry site (Site) is a quarry covering approximately

150 acres to a depth of 40 feet of which approximately 110 acres were

filled with CKD during the period of 1969-1985.

A pH monitoring program of the water in the West Quarry was started

in April of 1974 in response to a change in color of the Quarry water.

The Quarry water pH rose sharply following January 1976, increased to

11.8 in April 1976, and leveled off at about 12.5 in 1980. The increase

in pH is attributed to the breakdown of the natural buffering system

which was sustaining the Quarry water at a near-neutral pH. In response

to Quarry dewatering initiated in 1987, current pH levels are about

10.5.

In 1979, two seeps emerged from the northeastern portion of the

filled West Quarry. High pH water from the seeps flowed overland to

Calmus Creek. In 1984, the state initiated a study of Calmus Creek and

found pH in the creek elevated 2.0 pH units downstream of the seep

area. In April 1985, the state ordered NWSPCC to immediately cease

discharge from the seep area to Calmus Creek. NWSPCC was also ordered

to cease kiln dust disposal in the Quarry and to conduct a

hydrogeologic investigation.

In 1989, the state did a follow-up stream survey of Calmus Creek.

The 1989 study concluded that there had been no improvement in water

quality since the 1984 study. Conclusions from the 1989 study suggested

that runoff from the haul roads and storage areas was contributing to

the water quality degradation.

In 1992, a Calmus Creek stream study was done to meet requirements

of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination permit issued by Iowa

Department of National Resources. The results of this study suggested

water quality had improved with pH dropping from 10.2 in earlier

studies to 7.9. The study attributed this improvement to elimination of

runoff from the site and the installation of the groundwater

extraction/treatment system installed in 1985.

In 1987, EPA conducted a Site Inspection of the NWSPCC Site and,

based on the findings of this investigation, the Site was scored with

the Hazard Ranking System (HRS) for possible inclusion on the National

Priorities List (NPL). Based on the site characterization completed

under the direction of EPA, an HRS package for the Site resulted in a

score of 57.80. This score was based on the impact to groundwater and

direct human contact. The Site was proposed for the National Priority

List (NPL), in June of 1988 (53 FR 23988). The Site was added to the

NPL in August of 1990 (55 FR 35501).

The RI/FS field work and data collection activities began in August

1988 with the final report submitted in March 1990. The investigation

demonstrated that significant impact to groundwater outside the Site

boundaries had not occurred.

The U. S. Public Health Service Agency for Toxic Substances and

Disease Registry (ATSDR), conducted a draft Health Assessment for the

NWSPCC Site. They concluded that the Site is of potential health

concern because of the potential risk to human health resulting from

possible exposure to hazardous substances at concentrations that may

result in adverse health effects.

A final Record of Decision (ROD), was executed in June 1990 by the

EPA with concurrence by IDNR. The selected response action addressed

the principal threats of surface water and groundwater contamination

and the source of contamination--the cement kiln dust. The selected

remedy consisted of the following actions.

Dewatering of the Site which contained high pH water,

acid-neutralization and discharge to Calmus Creek.

Construction of a permanent drain system in the dewatered

Site to collect precipitation runoff and groundwater inflow to the

quarry.

Placement of an engineered clay cap over the area of the

Site filled with cement kiln dust to minimize infiltration through the

kiln dust.

Installation of bedrock dewatering wells to collect

contaminated groundwater beneath the Site, prevent migration of

contaminated groundwater from the Site and maintain groundwater levels

below the kiln dust.

Treatment of contaminated water to meet IDNR/NPDES

discharge permit limits with discharge to Calmus Creek.

Assurances that the dewatering system will be operated in

perpetuity to maintain isolation of water from the waste kiln dust and

collect and treat any contaminated water which is generated.

A Consent Decree was signed in June 1990 which outlined the

performance criteria to be met by implementing the approved remedial

action alternative as well as the reporting and scheduling requirements

of the remedial design and construction activities. The final Remedial

Design and Remedial Action Work Plans were completed in June 1992.

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

all fund-financed response activities under CERCLA at the NWSPCC Site,

Mason City, Iowa, have been completed and that no further response is

necessary. Therefore, it is proposed to delete the Site from the NPL.

Dated: September 26, 1994.

William Rice,

Acting Regional Administrator, Region VII.

[FR Doc. 94-25869 Filed 10-18-94; 8:45 am]

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