[Federal Register: August 18, 2003 (Volume 68, Number 159)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Page 49406-49409]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr18au03-38]
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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-7544-5]
National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan;
National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of intent to delete the Celtor Chemical Works Superfund
Site from the National Priorities List.
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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region IX is issuing
a Notice of Intent to Delete the Celtor Chemical Works Superfund Site
(Site) located in Hoopa, California, from the National Priorities List
(NPL) and requests public comments on this Notice of Intent to Delete.
The NPL, promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980
(CERCLA), as amended, is found at appendix B of 40 CFR part 300, which
is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Pollution Contingency Plan
(NCP). The EPA, Hoopa Valley Tribe and the State of California, through
the California Department of Toxic Substances Control (DTSC), have
determined that all appropriate response actions under CERCLA have been
completed. However, this deletion does not preclude future actions
under CERCLA.
DATES: Comments concerning this Site must be received by September 17,
2003.
ADDRESSES: Written comments should be addressed to: Beatriz Bofill,
Remedial Project Manager, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-7-2, 75 Hawthorne
Street, San Francisco, CA, 94105-3901, (415) 972-3260 or (800) 231-
3075.
Information Repositories: Comprehensive information on this Site
[[Page 49407]]
is available through the Region IX public docket which is available for
viewing at the EPA Region IX Superfund Records Center, 95 Hawthorne
Street, San Francisco CA, 94105-3901, (415) 536-2000 (Monday through
Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.); Hoopa Valley Tribal EPA, P.O. Box 1348, Hwy
96, Hoopa, CA 95546, (530) 625-5515.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Beatriz Bofill, Remedial Project
Manager, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-7-2, 75 Hawthorne Street, San
Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3260 or (800) 231-3075; or Hector
Aguirre, Community Involvement Coordinator, U.S. EPA, Region IX, SFD-3,
75 Hawthorne Street, San Francisco, CA 94105-3901, (415) 972-3238 or
(800) 231-3075.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Site Deletion
I. Introduction
The U.S. EPA Region IX is publishing this Notice of Intent to
Delete the Celtor Chemical Works Superfund Site from the 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, which EPA promulgated pursuant
to Section 105 of CERCLA, as amended. 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. As
described in Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, sites deleted from the NPL
remain eligible for remedial action in the unlikely event that
conditions at the site warrant such action.
EPA will accept comments on the proposal to delete this Site for
thirty (30) days after publication of this document in the Federal
Register.
Section II of this document explains the criteria for deleting
sites from the NPL. Section III discusses procedures that EPA is
following specifically for this Site. Section IV discusses the Celtor
Chemical Works Superfund Site and demonstrates how it meets the
deletion criteria.
Deletion of a site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or
revoke any individual's rights or obligations.
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
Section 300.425(e) of the NCP provides that sites may be deleted
from the NPL where no further response is appropriate. In making a
determination to delete a site from the NPL, EPA, in consultation with
the State and the Tribe, shall 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 (Hazardous Substance Superfund
Response Trust Fund) response under CERCLA has 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,
the taking of remedial measures is not appropriate.
If new information becomes available which indicates a need for
further action, EPA may initiate remedial actions. Whenever there is a
significant release from a site deleted from the NPL, the deleted site
may be restored to the NPL without application of the Hazard Ranking
System (40 CFR 300.425(e)(3)).
III. Deletion Procedures
The following procedures apply to deletion of this Site:
(1) All remedial action has been implemented as is documented in
the Final Close Out Report (FCOR), dated September 29, 1989.
(2) The EPA consulted with the State of California and the Hoopa
Valley Indian Tribe on the deletion of the Site from the NPL prior to
developing this Notice of Intent to Delete.
(3) The Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe concurred with deletion of the
Site from the NPL.
(4) The State of California concurred with deletion of the Site
from the NPL.
(5) A notice has been published in the local newspaper and has been
distributed to appropriate federal, state, and local officials and
other interested parties announcing the commencement of a 30-day public
comment period on EPA's Notice of Intent to Delete.
(6) The EPA placed copies of documents supporting the deletion in
the Site information repositories identified above.
For deletion of this Site, EPA's Regional Office will accept and
evaluate public comments before making a final decision to delete. If
comments are received, EPA will prepare a Responsiveness Summary to
address those comments. The Responsiveness Summary will be available
for review in the Deletion Docket. The Deletion Docket is a compilation
of documents containing all pertinent information supporting the
deletion recommendation.
A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect
deletions in the final update following the notice. Public notices and
copies of the Responsiveness Summary will be made available to local
residents by the Regional Office in the local information repository
and in the Region IX Superfund Records Center.
IV. Basis for Site Deletion
The following information provides EPA's rationale for deleting the
Site from the NPL:
Background
The Celtor Chemical Works Superfund Site is a 2.5 acre parcel of
mountainous terrain located at the northern end of the Hoopa Valley
Indian Reservation in Humboldt County California, about 2 miles north
of the town of Hoopa. The property on which the Site is located is
owned by the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe. The Tribe's land is held in
trust by the U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA). The land use for the
area surrounding the Site is rural residential. A cattle grazing
pasture is located to the west of the former plant site. A gravel bar
on the Trinity River at the northern end of the Site provides access to
a popular recreational fishing site.
In 1958, BIA leased the land to the Celtor Chemical Corporation on
behalf of the Tribe. The Celtor Chemical Corporation processed sulfide
ore taken from the Copper Bluff Mine. The plant, known as the Celtor
Chemical Works Mill, is believed to have used dissolved air flotation
to extract copper, zinc, and precious metals from the ore. The ore
concentrates were trucked off-site for further processing. Some mine
tailings were stockpiled in the area of the plant site; however, most
of the tailings were presumably sluiced down a drainage ditch to the
Trinity River. The tailings may have been the cause of the numerous
fish kills for which the California Department of Fish and Game have
cited the Celtor Chemical Corporation.
In 1960 the Celtor Chemical Corporation became delinquent in its
royalty payments to the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe. By 1962, Celtor
ceased operations and in March 1993, the BIA, as trustee for the Tribe,
canceled the leases of both the Copper Bluff Mine and the Celtor
Chemical Works Mill.
After milling operations ceased, a very large pile of tailings was
reported to have been left standing on a sand and gravel bar between
the drainage ditch and the Trinity River, along with the tailings that
were known to have been
[[Page 49408]]
left at the plant site. Flooding in 1964 reportedly washed all traces
of tailings that had been left on the sand and gravel bar into the
Trinity River.
Acid runoff from the Site continued to leach the remaining tailings
in the plant area. Elevated levels of metals in Site soils were
identified in samples collected by the California Department of Health
Services in July 1981. In August of the same year, EPA received a
Notification of a Hazardous Waste Site under the Comprehensive
Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA)
from the State. The Site was placed on the California State Priority
List in April 1982, then included on the National Priorities List (NPL)
in September 1983.
Initial Response
In December, 1983, EPA completed a Removal Action (also called the
initial remedial measure) in which all visibly contaminated material
(tailings, non-concrete structures, and a portion of the adjacent
pasture) were removed. Approximately 1,400 cubic yards of contaminated
material were taken to the IT Corporation Class I hazardous landfill in
Benicia, California.
Remedial Investigation and Feasibility Study (RI/FS)
The Remedial Investigation/Feasibility Study was completed on June
28, 1985, and a Record of Decision (ROD) was signed by the Regional
Administrator on September 30, 1985, which selected excavation and off-
site disposal of the remaining contaminated soils.
Remedy Selection
The ROD for the Celtor Chemical Works Site was signed on September
30, 1985. The primary human health threats posed at the Site were (1)
direct contact with soils contaminated with arsenic, copper, cadmium
and lead, and (2) consumption of surface water runoff from the Site or
in the drainage ditch, which sometimes exceeded Maximum Contaminant
Levels for copper, iron, lead and zinc. The remedial action objective
was to prevent human exposure to soil and water contaminated with
arsenic, copper, cadmium, zinc, mercury, selenium, cyanide and lead at
concentrations that may pose a public health or environmental threat.
The remedial actions of the 1985 ROD were: demolition and removal
of structures, excavation of soils contaminated above action levels
from all Site areas, import clean fill as necessary, regrade and
vegetate the Site, and install security fencing to protect new
vegetation. No groundwater treatment was necessary because the aquifer
was not contaminated.
Following signature, the ROD was amended twice. The first amendment
corrected an error in the copper action level and the second amendment
added additional standards for mercury, selenium, and cyanide in soils.
The additional cleanup standards were added as precautionary measures;
subsequent sampling showed all three metals to be below action levels.
Remedy Implementation
In August 1986, EPA entered into an interagency agreement (IAG)
with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers for the remedial design. The
Corps retained Aqua Resources, Inc. of Berkeley to plan the remedial
action.
The remedial design was completed by Aqua Resources, and approved
by EPA on June 9, 1987. The design plan was divided into six areas
designated A-F to be excavated to various depths. After excavation,
soil samples were to be taken at designated grid points for all the
contaminants of concern. It was estimated that 3,220 yards of soil and
890 tons of concrete were to be removed and transported to the
Envirosafe Services RCRA approved Class I Landfill in Grandview, Idaho.
Environmental Health Research and Testing, Inc. (EHRT) was contracted
to carry out the remedial action work. Shortly into the remediation,
EHRT submitted a Value Engineering Change Proposal (VECP) to perform
deeper and more thorough sampling to reduce the volume of soils
excavated. This change was accepted and decreased the actual volume of
soil excavated and transported to the Idaho Class I landfill to 1,163
cubic yards. Another post-design change was in the sampling depth of
the concrete.
On December 9, 1987 the Site was closed down for the winter season,
and activities resumed again on May 11, 1988. All backfilling and
revegetation was completed on October 14, 1988, marking the beginning
of a one year post-remedial maintenance period.
At any location where contaminants were detected above action
levels, additional soil was excavated and removed to the approved off-
site landfill. The removal of contaminated material and subsequent
confirmatory sampling of remaining on-site soils ensured that all
contamination was removed from the Site according to the guidelines set
forth in the Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP). On February 20,
1989, the Corps sent the Final Technical Report to EPA describing all
of the construction activities and the sampling data.
Operation and Maintenance
The operation and maintenance (O&M) was performed for a one-year
period by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. O&M efforts included
monthly site visits to inspect for evidence of erosion and problems
with revegetation, and maintenance of the perimeter fence.
Five-Year Review
The initial Five Year Review conducted in 1993 found the Site to be
in good condition, with a healthy cover of vegetation and no evidence
of erosion. A wood-staked wire fence had been constructed around the
pasture which had been remediated during the remedial action. The 1993
review concluded that the Site required little or no maintenance.
However, the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe subsequently raised concerns
about residual contamination remaining at the Site. On September 20,
1995, EPA collected 14 biased samples from the Site at the request of
the Hoopa Tribe. Samples were collected from three distinct areas of
the Site, including the former facility hillside, the access road
leading down to the river, and the gravel bar between the drainage
ditch and the Trinity River where it was reported a large pile of mine
tailings had once stood before they were washed away by the 1964 flood.
Of the 14 samples, 4 samples had levels of contaminants above the ROD
clean-up goals.
On April 22, 1996, EPA's Emergency Response Team performed
additional, more extensive sampling at the Site to verify that the
cleanup was complete. A total of 26 soil and sediment samples were
collected and analyzed by screening with the x-ray fluorescence (XRF)
spectrometer, and six soil samples were sent to a lab for confirmatory
analysis. Soils were also analyzed for pH. Hillside soil samples from
the former plant site contained minimal levels of copper, and traces of
copper were also found in the river access road cut area and the
drainage ditch but samples at both sites were well below action levels
for the Site. No detectable contamination was found in samples
collected from the borrow pit. However, analysis of samples collected
from stained areas on the gravel bar indicated these sediments may have
levels of copper, lead and arsenic in excess of the cleanup level.
Since 1996 no stained sediments have been observed on the gravel
bar by EPA or the Tribe. The gravel bar, hillside, and gully that
connects the Site to the Trinity River were sampled in 2002. No
Contaminants of Concern (COCs) were
[[Page 49409]]
found in concentrations above ROD cleanup goals.
A Second Five-Year Review was conducted in August of 2001. The
review concluded that the Site was not currently a threat to human
health and the environment, but that additional data was needed to
determine if the Site posed a future risk. The Review concluded that
all items of concern would be resolved before delisting could occur.
EPA, with support from the Tribal Environmental Protection Agency
(TEPA), conducted a comprehensive unbiased sampling event on May 28,
2003. EPA sampled the hillside, drainage ditch adjacent to the
hillside, and gully that connects the Site to the Trinity River. A
total of 38 soil samples were taken and 4 surface water samples were
taken. The laboratory results from the sampling indicated that all
sampled constituents are below the levels established in the ROD.
These results have been reviewed by the Region IX EPA toxicologist
who concurs that the Site has met soil action levels established in the
ROD, and that the Site does not pose an unacceptable risk to human
health or the environment from the COCs based upon EPA's current
guidance.
EPA has determined that all appropriate response actions for the
COCs have been implemented, and the Site is available for unrestricted
use. Therefore, no more Five-Year Reviews need to be conducted at the
Site.
Community Involvement
During the week of August 4, 2003, a fact sheet was mailed out to
tribal members notifying them of EPAs intent to delete the site from
the NPL. In addition to the fact sheet, an announcement for a community
meeting was published in a local paper on August 5, 2003. The community
meeting is scheduled for August 13, 2003. Members of the community will
be invited to ask questions and make formal comments. The Deletion
Docket which contains the documents EPA relied on for its
recommendation to delete the Site from the NPL is available to the
public in the information repositories.
Applicable Deletion Criteria/State Concurrence/Tribal Concurrence
All the completion requirements for this Site have been met as
described in the FCOR dated September 28, 1989. The NPL provides that a
site is eligible for deletion where ``all appropriate Fund-financed
(Hazardous Substance Superfund Response Trust Fund) response under
CERCLA has been implemented, and no further response action by
responsible parties is appropriate,'' and where ``responsible parties
or other parties have implemented all appropriate response actions
required.''
EPA, with the concurrence of the Hoopa Valley Indian Tribe through
the Tribal EPA on November 26, 2003 and the State of California through
its Department of Toxic Substances Control on July 25, 2003, and finds
that these criteria for deletion of the Site have been met.
Consequently, EPA is proposing deletion of the Celtor Chemical Works
Superfund Site from the NPL.
Dated: August 7, 2003.
Deborah Jordan,
Acting Regional Administrator, Region IX.
[FR Doc. 03-20778 Filed 8-15-03; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P