[Federal Register: March 23, 1998 (Volume 63, Number 55)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 13816-13818]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr23mr98-28]

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ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY

40 CFR Part 300

[FRL-5984-2]

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

AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.

ACTION: Notice of Intent to Delete Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics 
Site from the National Priorities List: request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Region 4 announces 
its intent to delete the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site from 
the National Priorities List (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 (NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to Section 105 
of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and 
Liability Act (CERCLA) of 1980, as amended. EPA and the State of 
Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) have determined 
that the Site poses no significant threat to public health or the 
environment and therefore, further response measures pursuant to CERCLA 
are not appropriate.

DATES: Comments concerning this Site may be submitted on or before: 
April 22, 1998.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be mailed to: Richard D. Green, Acting 
Director, Waste Management Division, U.S. Environmental Protection 
Agency, Atlanta Federal Center, 100 Alabama Street S.W., Atlanta, 
Georgia 30303-3104.
    Comprehensive information on this Site is available through the 
Region 4 public docket, which is available for viewing at the Anaconda 
Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site information

[[Page 13817]]

repositories at two locations. Locations, contacts, phone numbers and 
viewing hours are:

U.S. EPA Record Center, attn: Phyllis Craig, Atlanta Federal Center, 
100 Alabama Street, S.W., Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3104, Phone: (404) 
562-8881, Hours: 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, By 
Appointment Only
North Central Library, 10750 SW 211th Street, Miami, Florida 33189, 
Phone: (305) 693-4541, Hours: 1:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday, 9:30 a.m. 
to 6:00 p.m., Tuesday and Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Thursday, 
8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: John Zimmerman, U.S. EPA Region 4, 
Mail Code: WD-SSMB, Atlanta Federal Center, 100 Alabama Street, S.W., 
Atlanta, Georgia 30303-3104, (404) 562-8936.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents:

I. Introduction
II. NPL Deletion Criteria
III. Deletion Procedures
IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

I. Introduction

    The EPA Region 4 announces its intent to delete the Anaconda 
Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site, Miami, Florida, from the NPL, which 
constitutes Appendix B of the NCP, 40 CFR Part 300, and requests 
comments on this deletion. EPA identifies sites on the NPL that appear 
to present a significant risk to public health, welfare, or the 
environment. Sites on the NPL may be the subject of remedial actions 
financed by the Hazardous Substance Superfund Trust Fund (Fund). 
Pursuant to Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP, any site deleted from the 
NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions if conditions 
at the site warrant such action.
    EPA proposes to delete the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site 
located on the 3600 block of N.W. 76th Street, in Miami, Dade County, 
Florida from the NPL.
    EPA will accept comments concerning this Site for thirty 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 using 
for this action. Section IV discusses how this Site meets the deletion 
criteria.

II. NPL Deletion Criteria

    The NCP establishes the criteria that the Agency uses to delete 
sites from the NPL. In accordance with 40 CFR 300.425(e), sites may be 
deleted from, or re-categorized on, the NPL where no further response 
is appropriate. In making this determination, EPA shall consider, in 
consultation with the State, whether any of the following criteria have 
been met:
    (i) Responsible or other parties have implemented all appropriate 
response actions required;
    (ii) All appropriate Fund-financed responses under CERCLA have been 
implemented and no further 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.

CERCLA Section 121(c), 42 U.S.C. 9621(c), provides in pertinent 
part that:

    If the President selects a remedial action that results in any 
hazardous substances, pollutants, or contaminants remaining at the 
Site, the President shall review such remedial action no less often 
than each 5 years after the initiation of such remedial action to 
assure that human health and the environment are being protected by 
the remedial action being implemented* * *.

    EPA policy interprets this provision to apply only to those sites 
where any remaining hazardous substances are below the minimum levels 
that will allow for unlimited use and unrestricted exposure while 
continuing to be protective of public health and the environment. On 
that basis, for reasons set forth below, the statutory requirement has 
been satisfied at this Site, and five year reviews and operation and 
maintenance activities are not required. However, in the event new 
information is discovered which indicates a need for further action, 
EPA may initiate appropriate remedial actions. In addition, whenever 
there is a significant release from a site previously deleted from the 
NPL, that site may be restored to the NPL without application of the 
Hazardous Ranking System. Accordingly, the Site is qualified for 
deletion from the NPL.

III. Deletion Procedures

    EPA will accept and evaluate public comments before making a final 
decision on deletion. The following procedures were used for the 
intended deletion of the Site:
    1. FDEP has concurred with the deletion decision;
    2. Concurrently with this Notice of Intent, a notice has been 
published in local newspapers and has been distributed to appropriate 
federal, state and local officials and other interested parties 
announcing a 30-day public comment period on the proposed deletion from 
the NPL; and
    3. The Region has made all relevant documents available at the 
information repositories.
    The Region will respond to significant comments, if any, submitted 
during the comment period.
    Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not itself create, alter, or 
revoke any individual rights or obligations. The NPL is designed 
primarily for informational purposes to assist Agency management.
    A deletion occurs when the Regional Administrator places a final 
notice in the Federal Register. Generally, the NPL will reflect any 
deletions in the final update following the Notice. Public notices and 
copies of the Responsiveness Summary, if any, will be made available to 
local residents by the Regional office.

IV. Basis for Intended Site Deletion

    The following site summary provides the Agency's rationale for the 
intention to delete this Site from the NPL.
    The Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site in Dade County is 
approximately three acres of land along the north and south sides of 
N.W. 76th Street in the 3600 block. The portion on the north is the 
Milgo property and the portion on the south is the Anaconda Aluminum 
property.
    Anaconda Aluminum Company operated an aluminum anodizing facility 
on the Anaconda property from approximately 1957 to 1977. The Atlantic 
Richfield Company acquired the Anaconda Aluminum Company in 1977 and 
operated the facility until February 1982, when all processes ended and 
the Anaconda property was sold to the current owner, Dade Metals 
Corporation in October 1983. The property was used for storing lumber 
and rebar by a tenant, JRD Forming Company. JRD is no longer a tenant 
and the property is currently not in use. The aluminum anodizing 
operations utilized an electrochemical processing acid and a caustic 
base to produce a film of protective oxide on aluminum. Wastewater from 
the process was discharged into an onsite percolation pit, permitted by 
the Metropolitan Dade County Department of Environmental Resources 
Management. The percolation pit was filled in when the facility ceased 
operations.
    Milgo Electronics, producers of communications and data processing 
equipment, conducted electroplating, manufacturing, painting, and 
packaging operations at the Milgo property from 1961 until 1984. 
Wastewater from

[[Page 13818]]

chemical rinses, metal plating, and spray coating were treated onsite 
in a treatment system designed to precipitate dissolved metals from the 
wastewater. The precipitated sediment was removed by a tank truck and 
the remaining liquid was discharged to a drainfield on the property. 
Racal-Datacom, Inc. became the successor to Milgo Electronics 
Corporation. The Milgo facility was closed in 1984 and 1985 in 
accordance with a closure plan approved by the Florida Department of 
Environmental Regulation (renamed the Florida Department of 
Environmental Protection). As part of the closure, the drainfield, 
batch waste holding tank, and all process vessels were drained and 
their contents disposed of at approved sites.
    Preliminary and expanded site investigations determined that there 
was potential impact to the environment by inorganic contaminants, in 
particular chromium, lead, and aluminum. The Site was placed on the NPL 
in August of 1990. An Administrative Order by Consent for the Remedial 
Investigation/Feasibility Study (RI/FS) was signed on July 31, 1992 and 
later amended in November of 1992. Additional sampling was conducted 
prior to the RI/FS and based upon these results, a removal action was 
conducted in 1993 to remove a significant portion of the contamination 
at the Site. The removal activities addressed soil and treatment 
structures known to contain elevated levels of metals and organics and 
included; removal of liquids and sludge from the settling tank, 
drainfield, batch tank, and underground circular structure and sump 
with the liquid and sludge being pumped into 55 gallon drums for 
disposal at an approved offsite location, the testing of the sump (no 
leakage was observed other than the exit pipe), decontamination and 
removal/filling of structures with cement slurry, and finally 
excavation of the drainfield to a 6-7 foot depth below land surface in 
a 50 foot long by 7 foot wide trench. Post-removal sampling results 
indicated that the removal was successful.
    In 1993, a Remedial Investigation was performed mainly on the 
remaining areas of potential contamination not addressed during the 
removal action. Over 100 samples of soil, groundwater, and sediment 
were collected. A Baseline Risk Assessment was conducted as part of 
this RI to evaluate the public health and environmental problems that 
could result if the Site were not remediated.
    The results of the RI and the Risk Assessment indicated that the 
1993 removal of contaminated soils at the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo 
Electronics Site reduced the risk from exposure to Site-related 
contaminants in the soils to levels which are protective of human 
health and the environment. Groundwater contaminants which could be 
directly attributed to the Site were below concentrations which 
exceeded health-based levels. Two volatile organic compounds (VOCs) 
that were found during the RI in the deep wells have been cited as an 
area-wide groundwater condition.
    On November 22, 1994, EPA signed a Record of Decision (ROD) for the 
Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site. The ROD called for No Further 
Action at the Site. However, to verify that the VOCs detected in the 
groundwater are not indicative of a Site-related release, EPA required 
that four post-RI supplemental sampling events would take place. This 
post-RI sampling, which was completed last year, confirmed that no 
significant risk to public health or the environment is posed by the 
Site. In three out of the four sampling events, the contaminants found 
during the RI were no longer present at levels above drinking water 
standards.
    Due to the removal of contaminated soils, hazardous substances have 
been removed from the Site so as to allow for unlimited use and 
unrestricted exposures within the Site, the Site is protective of 
public health and the environment, and no further remedial action is 
needed at the Site. Accordingly, EPA will not conduct operation and 
maintenance activities or five-year reviews at this Site.
    EPA, with concurrence of FDEP, has determined that all appropriate 
actions at the Anaconda Aluminum/Milgo Electronics Site have been 
completed, and that no further remedial action is necessary. Therefore, 
EPA is proposing deletion of the Site from the NPL.

    Dated: March 16, 1998.
John H. Hankinson, Jr.,
Regional Administrator, USEPA Region 4.
[FR Doc. 98-7307 Filed 3-20-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-U