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Federal Register Notice
41959 - 41960 Federal Register / Vol. 61, No. 157 / Tuesday, August 13, 1996 / Rules and Regulations
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
40 CFR Part 300
[FRL-5551-1]
National Oil and Hazardous Substance Pollution Contingency Plan; National Priorities List
AGENCY: Environmental Protection Agency.
ACTION: Notice of deletion of the Whitewood Creek Site from the
National Priorities List (NPL).
SUMMARY:
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announces the deletion of the Whitewood Creek Site (Site) in Butte, Meade and Lawrence Counties, South Dakota, from the National Priorities List (NPL). The NPL is Appendix B of title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations part 300 which is the National Oil and Hazardous Substances Contingency Plan (NCP), which EPA promulgated pursuant to section 105 of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act of 1980 (CERCLA), as amended. EPA in consultation with the state of South Dakota have determined that the Site poses no significant threat to public health or the environment and, therefore, no further remedial measures pursuant to CERCLA, other than required operations and maintenance (O&M), are appropriate.
EFFECTIVE DATE:
August 13, 1996.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael H. McCeney, Remedial Project Manager
U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, Region 8
999 18th Street, Suite 500
Mailcode: 8EPR-SR
Denver, CO 80202
(303)-312-7023
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
The site to be deleted from the NPL is: The Whitewood Creek Site in Butte, Meade, and Lawrence Counties, South Dakota.
A Notice of Intent to Delete for this site was published on November 30, 1995, (60 FR 61507). The closing date for comments on the Notice of Intent to Delete was January 2, 1996. Three comments were received during the comment period. Two of the comments received voiced support for the proposed action. In response, EPA agrees that the Site should be deleted from the NPL.
The third comment was from a landowner and current resident at the Site. The commenter was concerned with two aspects of the remedy implemented at the Site:
The impacts that the remedy will have on property values at the Site, and
the long-term effectiveness of the remedy given the potential for re-contamination of remediated areas at the Site.
In response to the first concern, EPA recognizes that the Superfund law has inadvertently had adverse effects on real estate values and transactions. These problems typically arise as a result of concerns on the part of lending institutions. Three common concerns expressed by lenders are:
The uncertainty associated with not knowing what cleanup actions EPA might ultimately require at a site;
the fear that the lender may assume liability in the event that they take possession of a Superfund site through foreclosure of loans; and
the fear that the loan applicant might be held liable for cleanup costs at a site.
At the Whitewood Creek Site, the first lender concern probably does not apply since EPA has determined that the Site poses no significant threat to public health and the environment and that all required response actions, except for required O&M, have been completed at the Site. All O&M, except that related to future land development at the Site, is the responsibility of the Homestake Mining Company (Homestake) under the terms of a consent decree with EPA.
To help allay the second lender concern, EPA has implemented a policy whereby lenders will not be held liable as a result of foreclosures on loans. EPA set forth this policy in a memorandum entitled "Policy on CERCLA Enforcement Against Lenders and Government Entities that Acquire Property Involuntarily", dated September 22, 1995.
To help allay the third concern of lenders, in situations where a Superfund site is used for residential purposes, EPA implemented a policy whereby residential landowners will not be held responsible for response costs related to cleanup at their property. This policy is set forth in EPA Office of Solid Waste and Emergency Response directive number 9834.6, dated July 3, 1991.
EPA believes that these and other policies have successfully curtailed many of the effects that Superfund sites may have had on property values. If lenders do have concerns over granting loans on Whitewood Creek Superfund Site property, EPA Region VIII staff are available to discuss those concerns and provide information necessary to help resolve the situation.
In response to the commentor's second concern, EPA acknowledges that, given the nature of the residual contamination which remains at the Whitewood Creek Site, there is a potential for recontamination to occur in residential areas that were cleaned up as part of the remedy. For this reason, EPA is required to assess the conditions at the Site no less often than once every five years following the start of remedial action at the Site. The first five year review at the Site will therefore take place in 1996. As part of the five year review, Homestake, under the terms of a consent decree with EPA, will conduct soil sampling in residential yards cleaned up as part of the remedy. Any yards that are found to be recontaminated above the action level set forth in the ROD (100 milligrams per kilogram arsenic) will be cleaned up again by Homestake. Deletion of the Site from the NPL does not affect this process nor does it affect Homestake's obligations under the Consent Decree.
EPA identifies sites that appear to present a significant risk to public health, welfare, or the environment and it maintains the NPL as the list of those sites. Any site deleted from the NPL remains eligible for Fund-financed remedial actions in the unlikely event that conditions at the site warrant such action in the future, NCP Sec. 300.425(e)(3) of the NCP. Deletion of a site from the NPL does not affect responsible party liability or impede agency efforts to recover costs associated with response efforts.
List of Subjects in 40 CFR Part 300
Environmental protection, Air pollution control, Chemicals, Hazardous Waste, Hazardous substances, Intergovernmental relations, Penalties, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements, Superfund, Water pollution control, Water supply.
Dated: August 1, 1996.
Max H. Dodson,
Acting Regional Administrator, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency,
Region VIII.
For the reasons set out in the preamble, 40 CFR part 300 is amended as follows:
PART 300--[AMENDED]
1. The authority citation for part 300 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 33 U.S.C. 1321(c)(2); 42 U.S.C. 9601-9657; E.O. 12777, 56 FR 54757, 3 CFR, 1991 Comp., p 351; E.O. 12580, 52 FR 2923; 3 CFR, 1987 Comp., p. 193.
Appendix B--[Amended]
2. Table 1 of Appendix B to part 300 is amended by removing the site for Whitewood Creek Site, CS, South Dakota.
[FR Doc. 96-20460 Filed 8-12-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6560-50-P