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

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5963-4]

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan;

National Priorities List

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent for Partial Deletion of the Celanese

Corporation (Hoechst Celanese) Shelby Fiber Operations Site from the

National Priorities List.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces

its intent to delete portions of the Celanese Corporation Shelby Fiber

Operations Superfund Site located in Shelby (Cleveland County), North

Carolina, from the National Priorities List (NPL) and requests public

comment on this proposed action. The NPL constitutes Appendix B to 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 (CERCLA). This partial deletion of the Celanese

Corporation Shelby Fiber Operations site is proposed in accordance with

40 CFR 300.425(e) and the Notice of Policy Change: Partial Deletion of

Sites Listed on the NPL, published in the Federal Register on November

1, 1995 at (60 FR 55466).

This proposal for partial deletion pertains only to portions of

Operable Unit (OU) 1--Outer Tier Extraction Well System, and Operable

Unit (OU) 2--Former Source Area and Remediated Creeks. EPA bases its

proposal to delete portions of OU-1 and OU-2 on the determination by

EPA and the State of North Carolina Department of Environment, Health

and Natural Resources (DEHNR) that all appropriate actions under CERCLA

have been implemented to protect health, welfare, and the environment.

This partial deletion of OU-1 pertains only to the Outer Tier

extraction well system and associated ground-water treatment system.

This partial deletion does not include the remaining portions of OU-1

(i.e., the Inner Tier extraction and treatment system). The ground-

water unit will remain on the NPL and treatment will continue until a

determination by EPA and DEHNR, that all appropriate actions under

CERCLA have been completed to protect human health, welfare and the

environment relating to residual ground-water contamination at the

site.

DATES: EPA will accept comments concerning its proposal for partial

deletion for thirty days (30) after publication of this document in the

Federal Register and a newspaper of record.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Mr. McKenzie Mallary, Remedial

Project Manager, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, North

Site Management Branch, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia

30303-3014.

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 Ms. Debbie Jourdan,

U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Federal Atlanta Center, 61

Forsyth Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3014. 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

Cleveland County Library, 104 Howie Drive, Shelby, NC 28151. The

telephone number is (704) 487-9069. The library is open Monday through

Thursday from 9:00 a.m. to 9:00 p.m., on Friday from 9:00 a.m. until

5:00 p.m, and Saturday from 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. McKenzie Mallary, Remedial Project

Manager, U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 4, North Site

Management Branch, 61 Forsyth Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3014

(404) 562-8802; 1-800-435-9233.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

I. Introduction

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

III. Deletion Procedure

IV. Basis for Intended Partial Site Deletion

I. Introduction

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4

announces its intent to delete a portion of the Celanese Corporation

Shelby Fiber Operations site (Site) from the NPL, Appendix B of the

National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan (NCP), 40 CFR

Part 300. 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.

This proposal for partial deletion pertains only to OU-1 (Outer

Tier), and OU-2 (Former Source Area and Remediated Creeks). Response

activities to remediate residual groundwater contamination at the OU-

1(Inner Tier) of this Site are not yet complete and this part of OU-1

will remain on the NPL and is not subject of this partial deletion.

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

[[Page 6508]]

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 Procedure

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 portions of the Celanese Corporation

Shelby Fiber Operations Site:

(1) EPA Region IV has recommended deletion and has prepared the

relevant documents.

(2) The State has concurred with the decision to delete portions of

the Celanese Corporation Shelby Fiber Operations 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 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, Sec. 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.

IV. Basis for Intended Partial Site Deletion

The following summary provides the Agency's rationale for deletion

of OU-1 (Outer Tier) and OU-2 (Former Source Area and Remediated

Creeks) of the Celanese Corporation Shelby Fiber Operations site from

the NPL and EPA's finding that the criteria in 40 CFR 300.425(e) are

satisfied.

A. Site Background

The Hoechst Celanese Shelby, North Carolina Fiber Operations plant

is a polyester raw-material production facility. The site consists of a

450-acre piece of property which includes the main plant production

area, wastewater treatment area, former waste disposal areas, and

recreational areas. The plant is located in south-central Cleveland

County, bordered by Highway 198 to the west and Lavender Road to the

south, approximately one mile north of Earl and six miles south of

Shelby.

Hoechst Celanese has been conducting environmental investigations

at the Shelby facility since 1981. Remediation and clean-up activities

based on these investigations have been on-going since 1988. Initially,

work performed at the facility was conducted on a voluntary basis by

Hoechst Celanese. The site was later proposed for listing on the NPL

(National Priorities List) in October of 1984, and work conducted since

that time has followed the formal RI/FS (remedial investigation/

feasibility study) process under CERCLA. The site was formally placed

on the NPL in June of 1986.

B. Response Actions Taken at the Celanese Fiber Operations Shelby Site

A Remedial Investigation of the Celanese Fiber Operations Shelby

Site was completed in 1987 by Hoechst Celanese, the Potentially

Responsible Party. Based on data collected during the Remedial

Investigation, a risk assessment was conducted to identify contaminants

of concern, potential exposure pathways, and potential human health

risks resulting from exposure to contaminants found at the Celanese

Fiber Operations Shelby Site. This risk assessment determined that the

most significant potential human health risk was exposure to benzene,

lead, trichloroethylene and chromium through consumption of ground

water by residents living adjacent to the site.

Remedial activities conducted at the site have been broken into two

operable units: Operable Unit 1 (OU-1), consisting of groundwater

extraction, treatment, and hydraulic control; and, Operable Unit 2 (OU-

2), consisting of removal and treatment of contaminated source areas

and stream sediments. The site was broken into two operable units

because of the time involved in conducting pilot studies for the former

source area remediation. The intent in separating the site into two

operable units was to begin immediately with groundwater recovery while

the pilot studies for OU-2 were being conducted.

The ROD for OU-1 was issued on March 23, 1988. OU-1 construction

activities began in October of 1988 and the extraction well system was

placed in operation in August of 1989. An initial Five Year Review

Report for OU-1 was prepared, and the final report was submitted to the

EPA on August 8, 1994. OU-1 consists of two groundwater extraction and

treatment systems identified as the Inner Tier and Outer Tier systems.

The remedial action objectives for the OU-1 remedy were to control

further migration of the contaminated groundwater toward the site

perimeter and to remove contaminated ground water for subsequent

treatment and discharge.

The OU-2 ROD was issued on March 28, 1989. OU-2 site development

activities began in September of 1990 and remediation activities

continued through August of 1992. An initial Five Year Review Report

for OU-2 has been prepared, and the final report was submitted to the

EPA in August of 1995.

The objectives of the OU-2 remediation were to remove, treat, and

dispose of the most probable sources of groundwater contamination

identified during the remedial investigation and additional site

characterization studies. The identified source areas included buried

wastes consisting of GRU (glycol recovery unit) sludges, residual burn

pit materials, and plastic chips. Although not part of the identified

source area, the OU-2 remedy also included the excavation and treatment

of a lesser amount of contaminated stream sediments along segments of

two adjacent, unnamed creeks.

The OU-2 remedy specified in the ROD did not require ``clean

closure'' (i.e., complete removal of source material and residual

contamination). Rather, the easily identified GRU sludges, burn pit

residuals and plastic chip were excavated, along with obviously

contaminated soils (based on visual observation), to a depth of at

least 1 foot below the buried wastes. The specific intent of the OU-2

remedy was to remove and treat the major source of groundwater

contamination and thereby enhance the effectiveness of the OU-1 remedy.

C. Areas to be Deleted

Significant clean-up progress has been made in all areas of the

site, and deletion of selected parts of the site are intended to

recognize the clean-up accomplishments to date and to designate

portions of the site that do not warrant further action under the

federal Superfund program. In order to convey to the public the

successful clean up of portions of the Celanese Fiber

[[Page 6509]]

Operations Shelby Site, this petition is being made to delete the

following operable units or portions of operable units at Shelby:

(1) Operable Unit 1 Outer Tier Extraction System.

(2) Operable Unit 2 Former Source Area and Remediated Creeks.

The petition to delist the Outer Tier portion of OU-1 is based on

the following evaluation of current conditions:

(1) No detectable levels of organic constituents were reported as

present in Outer Tier influent samples or in any off-site domestic

supply wells during the 1996 sampling events. Based on the groundwater

monitoring data, the Inner Tier extraction system is effectively

capturing residual groundwater contamination around the former source

area. Assuming Outer Tier pumping is discontinued, the improvement in

water quality around the former source area should continue and may

also be enhanced because the Outer Tier will no longer be ``pulling''

ground water away from the former source area.

(2) Discontinuing pumping from the Outer Tier will conserve a

valuable groundwater resource and will allow the potentiometric surface

along the property boundary to recover. Correspondingly, the hydraulic

gradients between the Inner and Outer Tier areas will decrease,

resulting in substantially longer travel times from the former source

area toward the property boundary. The net effect will be to enhance

the natural attenuation and bioremediation of any trace concentrations

of constituents which may still remain in transit in the system.

(3) The Outer Tier was installed specifically to provide hydraulic

control along the property boundary to eliminate a hypothetical

exposure scenario postulated in the endangerment portion of the

Feasibility Study. As part of a voluntary initiative by Hoechst

Celanese during the 2nd half of 1995, all off-site, downgradient

residents were provided with county water for potable purposes,

domestic supply wells used for potable purposes have been plugged back,

and the property owners have executed deed restrictions preventing

future well drilling in the affected area. For all properties, the use

of groundwater for drinking water purposes is prohibited. A

toxicological assessment of current off-site conditions has indicated

acceptable levels of risk, and that the Outer Tier extraction wells

could safely be shut down.

The decision to request deletion of the OU-2 portion of the Hoechst

Celanese Corporation Shelby site is based on the following observations

and evaluation conducted during the Five Year Review which was

completed in August of 1995:

(1) All work at OU-2 was completed in accordance with the 100%

design report and EPA-approved amendments to the design which occurred

during implementation.

(2) During the Five Year Review, no unusual or unsuspected

operation and maintenance conditions were found, no areas of non-

compliance were identified, and a biological assessment concluded that

the remediated creeks were rejuvenating. The review concluded that the

remedy was and continues to be protective of human health and the

environment.

(3) Deleting the former source area is appropriate because all

CERCLA response activities have been completed in those areas of OU-2

where soil contamination exceeded the clean-up goals.

The petition for partial deletion of OU-1 pertains only to the

Outer Tier extraction well system and associated ground-water treatment

system. This partial deletion does not include the remaining portions

of OU-1 (i.e. The Inner Tier extraction and treatment system). The

ground-water unit will remain on the NPL and treatment will continue

until a determination by EPA and DEHNR, that all appropriate actions

under CERCLA have been completed to protect human health, welfare and

the environment related to residual groundwater contamination at the

site.

Groundwater quality will be monitored quarterly to verify that

response actions taken will prevent groundwater contaminants from

reaching the property boundary at concentrations which exceed the

Federal MCLs or North Carolina Groundwater Protection Standards. Should

the monitoring indicate any potential problem with, or failure of, the

remedy, the Outer Tier wells can be reactivated to once again provide

hydraulic control along the property boundary.

A revised groundwater monitoring program was implemented at the

Celanese Fiber Operations Shelby Site during the 1st Quarter of 1996.

This program was proposed in the 1995 Annual Operating Status Report

for Operable Unit 1, and was approved upon review by the EPA and DEHNR.

Hoechst Celanese will continue to collect samples in accordance with

the current sampling matrix and the approved Sampling & Analysis Plan.

Monitoring data and operating status reports for the Inner Tier

remediation will continue to be submitted semiannually in accordance

with the currently approved reporting schedule.

D. Community Involvement

During the remedial activities at the Site, EPA kept the community

informed of site activities primarily through fact sheets, public

meetings, and newspaper articles. Public meetings were held by the EPA

to present the RI/FS Work Plan (September 24, 1985), the results of the

Remedial Investigation (July 21, 1987), the results of the OU-1

Feasibility Study (February 2, 1988), and the OU-2 Feasibility Study

(February 16, 1989). Public comments received during the comment period

were considered and addressed in the Responsiveness Summaries attached

to each respective ROD.

E. Current Status

One of the three criteria for deletion specifies that EPA may

delete a site from the NPL if ``Responsible parties or other persons

have implemented all appropriate response actions required.'' EPA, with

concurrence of DEHNR, believes that this criterion for deletion has

been met for the OU-1 Outer Tier and for OU-2. Groundwater quality will

be monitored quarterly to verify that response actions taken will

prevent groundwater contaminants from reaching off-site areas at

concentrations which exceed the Federal MCLs or North Carolina

Groundwater Protection Standards. Five-year reviews will be conducted

by EPA to evaluate trends in ground-water quality until it has been

determined that clean-up goals have been met for the groundwater around

the former source area and that additional groundwater monitoring is

not necessary.

While EPA does not believe that any future response actions at OU-1

Outer Tier or at OU-2 will be needed, if future conditions warrant such

action, the proposed deletion areas of the Celanese Fiber Operations

Shelby site remain eligible for future Fund-financed response actions.

Furthermore, this partial deletion does not alter the status of the OU-

1 Inner Tier extraction well system portion of the Site which is not

proposed for deletion and will remain on the NPL.

EPA, with concurrence from the State of North Carolina DEHNR, has

determined that all appropriate CERCLA response actions have been

completed at OU-1 Outer Tier and OU-2 at the Hoechst Celanese Fiber

Operations Shelby site and protection of human health and the

environment has been achieved in this area. Therefore, EPA makes this

proposal to delete OU-2 and only OU-1 Outer Tier of the Hoechst

[[Page 6510]]

Celanese Fiber Operations Shelby Superfund site from the NPL.

Dated: January 23, 1998.

A. Stanley Meiburg,

Deputy Regional Administrator, Environmental Protection Agency, Region

4.

[FR Doc. 98-3041 Filed 2-6-98; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6560-50-P