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

DEPARTMENT OF THE TREASURY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5095-9]

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;

The National Priorities List Update

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete the Boise Cascade/Onan/Medtronics

Site from the National Priorities List; request for comments.

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

its intent to delete the Boise Cascade/Onan/Medtronics Site from the

National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public comments on this

action. The NPL is 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 of 1980

(CERCLA) as amended. This action is being taken, because all Fund-

financed response actions under CERCLA have been implemented and EPA,

in consultation with the State of Minnesota, has determined that no

further response is appropriate. Moreover, EPA and the State have

determined that remedial activities conducted at the site to date have

been protective of public health, welfare, and the environment.

DATES: Comments concerning the proposed deletion may be submitted

November 25, 1994.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to Gladys Beard (HSRM-6J) Associate

Remedial Project Manager, Office of Superfund, USEPA, Region V, 77 W.

Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604. Information on the site is available

at USEPA and at the local information repository located at: Minnesota

Pollution Control Agency Public Library, 520 Lafayette RD, St. Paul, MN

55155-4194. Requests for comprehensive copies of documents should be

directed formally to Region V's Docket Officer. The address for the

Region V Docket Office is Jan Pfundheller (H-7J), USEPA, Region V, 77

W. Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 353-5821.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gladys Beard (HSRM-6J) Associate

Remedial Project Manager, Office of Superfund, USEPA, Region V, 77 W.

Jackson Blvd., Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 886-7253; or Cherly Allen (P-

19J), Office of Public Affairs, USEPA, Region V, 77 W. Jackson Blvd.,

Chicago, IL 60604, (312) 353-6196.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

III. Deletion Procedures

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

I. Introduction

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Region V announces

its intent to delete the Boise Cascade/Onan/Medtronics Site from the

National Priorities List (NPL), appendix B to the National Oil and

Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan, 40 CFR part 300 (NCP),

and requests comments on the proposed deletion. The EPA identifies

sites which 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 Superfund (Fund) financed

remedial actions. Pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site

deleted from the NPL remains eligible for additional Fund-financed

remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site

warrant such action.

The USEPA will accept comments on this proposal for thirty (30)

days after 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 procedures that EPA is using for

this action. Section IV discusses the history of this site and explains

how the site meets the deletion criteria.

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

revoke any individual's rights or obligations. Furthermore, deletion

from the NPL does not in any way alter EPA's right to take enforcement

actions, as appropriate. The NPL is designed primarily for

informational purposes and to assist in Agency management.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

The NCP establishes the criteria the Agency 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, USEPA will consider, in consultation with

the State, whether any of 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 actions under CERCLA

have been implemented, and no further response action by responsible

parties is appropriate;

(iii) The remedial investigation has shown that the release poses

no significant threat to public health or the environment and,

therefore, remedial measures are not appropriate.

III. Deletion Procedures

Upon determination that at least one of the criteria described in

Sec. 300.425(e) has been met and if the State has concurred with the

intent to delete EPA may formally begin deletion procedures. This

Federal Register notice, and a concurrent notice in the local newspaper

in the vicinity of the site, announces, the initiation of a thirty day

comment period. The public is asked to comment on USEPA's intention to

delete the site from the NPL. All critical documents needed to evaluate

EPA's decision are generally included in the information repository and

the deletion docket.

Upon completion of the public comment period, if necessary, the EPA

Regional Office will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to evaluate and

address comments that were received. The public is welcome to contact

the EPA Region V Office to obtain a copy of this responsiveness

summary, if one is prepared. If USEPA then determines that deletion

from the NPL is appropriate, a final notice of deletion will be

published in the Federal Register.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

The Boise Cascade/Onan/Medtronics Superfund Site covers 183 acres

and is located in the City of Fridley in Anoka County in the state of

Minnesota. From approximately 1921 through 1961, National Pole and

Treating Company and its affiliate, Minnesota and Ontario Paper Company

(M&O) operated a wood treating facility at the site. Initial operations

included the use of creosote treatment of wood for the manufacture of

railroad ties and utility poles. In approximately 1958,

pentachlorophenol (PCP), another wood preservative, was also used for

treating lumber. Wood-treating operations ceased in early 1961. In

1964, M&O merged with the Boise Cascade Corporation (Boise). Boise sold

the site in 1967. Subsequently, Medtronics, Inc. acquired 50 acres of

the Boise Cascade property located to the west and south, and Onan,

Inc. acquired 133 acres of the site to the north and east.

In 1979, Onan began excavation for construction purposes and

encountered large quantities of creosote and PCP saturated soil.

Similar deposits were subsequently discovered on the Medtronics portion

of the Site. Wood-treating operations had contaminated soils and

groundwater with creosote and PCP by spillage, dripping, and wastewater

disposal.

The Boise Cascade site was placed on the National Priorities List

on September 21, 1984, at 49 FR 37066-37090. In conjunction with the

Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA), Boise conducted extensive

soil and groundwater investigations from 1979 through 1982. Because the

Site's ownership is divided between two different companies, Site

investigations at the Boise Cascade Site were conducted separately

within the individual property boundaries.

On the Onan property the analyses verified that the major

contaminants of concern were creosote derived polynuclear aromatic

hydrocarbons (PAHS) and phenolic compounds (phenolics are also derived

from PCP). The heaviest concentrations of these substances were found

on two areas where significant aspects of the tie treating process had

been conducted: (1) The area where the ties were pressure treated in

the retorts; and (2) the area where the ties were left to cool and dry

after they were removed from the retorts and before they were loaded

onto railroad cars for shipment.

Seven shallow monitoring wells were installed at locations to

sample surficial groundwater in the coarse Fridley Formation to

determine the Glacial Drift Stratigraphy in the Site area. Heavy

concentrations of PAHs were found in the vicinity of the Retort

building in an area where tanks were removed in mid-1979. A plume of

PAH compounds was found to extend to the southwest of the Retort area;

however, the concentrations of PAH compounds decreased by more than two

orders of magnitude by the time the plume reached the southern boundary

of the Onan property, which was likely due to the attenuation of the

PAH compound in the soil system. Phenolics were not present in the

samples from the shallow groundwater beneath the Onan property at

concentrations above the detection limits with the one exception of 4-

methylphenol which was detected in the Retort area.

The Hillside sand aquifer was sampled and found to contain

insignificant levels of PAHs and no phenolics compounds. An eight inch

diameter bedrock well, uncovered in 1979 during earth moving

activities, was investigated. Approximately two feet of creosote sludge

was discovered at the bottom of the well. All contaminated soil was

excavated and placed in a vault formed by slurry wall and a cap

consisting of clean soil and a vegetative cover was constructed over

the vault.

The direction of groundwater movement in the surficial groundwater

system in the upper portion of the Fridley Formation beneath the Onan

property is southwesterly toward Rice and Norton Creeks. Water and

sediment samples were collected from two monitoring stations along

Norton Creek and from three monitoring stations along Rice Creek. PAH

samples were measured above detection limits in the surface water and

sediment samples from all sampling stations on Rice and Norton Creeks,

including stations upstream of the site, therefore it was impossible to

attribute an impact from the Site to the Creeks.

At the Medtronic Property the waste water treatment lagoons were

utilized for disposal of the waste waters generated by operations. The

waste waters contained quantities of creosote and PCP which

subsequently contaminated soils and groundwater beneath the primary and

secondary wastewater treatment lagoons and a trench leading to the

lagoons. Both the trench and the lagoons were located on the Medtronics

portion of the site, east of Old Central Avenue. Eight shallow soil

borings were installed along the waste water trench and around the

primary and secondary waste water treatment lagoons. High levels of

PAHs and heterocyclics were found. Additionally, about 5000 gallons of

free oil were discovered in the vicinity of the primary waste water

lagoon.

As with the Site Investigations, remediation at the Boise Cascade

Site was conducted separately within the individual property

boundaries. The following remedial actions were implemented at the

Site:

A slurry wall containment system was constructed around the former

retort building. Visually contaminated soil was excavated and placed in

a vault formed by a slurry wall, and a cap was constructed over the

vault. The excavated areas were backfilled with clean soil. A subdrain

system was installed in the former loading area to remove groundwater

from the coarse Fridley Formation and discharge it into the City of

Fridley sanitary sewer system. A long-term monitoring of groundwater,

surface water, and air quality has been ongoing.

At the Medtronics Property on the basis of the investigations

above, Boise and Medtronics companies developed a Remedial Action Plan

(RAP) to excavate and dispose of visibly contaminated soils on the

Medtronics portion of the site. The following Remedial Actions were

implemented at the Site:

All the visibly contaminated soil in the two wastewater lagoons and

in the trench that was used to convey wastewater from the retort to the

lagoons were excavated and disposed of in a hazardous waste facility

that had interim status pursuant to RCRA. Excavated areas were

backfilled with clean soil. Groundwater that was in contact with and

directly beneath contaminated soil was collected, treated and disposed

of into the City of Fridley sanitary sewer system. About 5000 gallons

of free oil discovered in the vicinity of the primary wastewater lagoon

was collected and disposed offsite. Long-term monitoring of

groundwater, surface water, sediments, and air quality has been

ongoing. A final Close Out Report which documents completion of Site

construction, was signed on September 30, 1992.

EPA, with the concurrence of the State of Minnesota, has determined

that all appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA at the Boise

Cascade/Onan/Medtronics Site have been completed, and no further

Superfund response is appropriate in order to provide protection of

human health and the environment.

Dated: October 6, 1994.

David A. Ullrich,

Acting Regional Administrator, USEPA, Region V.

[FR Doc. 94-26383 Filed 10-25-94; 8:45 am]

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